On New Year’s Day, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, injuring seven people and leaving authorities grappling with unanswered questions. The driver, identified as 37-year-old Matthew Alan Livelsberger, was an active-duty US special forces soldier from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Officials revealed he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound moments before the blast, which investigators described as a suicide followed by a bombing.
Livelsberger rented the Cybertruck on December 28 in Denver and traveled over 800 miles to Las Vegas. Surveillance footage and Tesla’s charging technology tracked his journey. Arriving less than two hours before the explosion, he parked the vehicle near the hotel’s glass entrance. The Cybertruck, filled with fuel canisters and firework mortars, began to smoke before detonating vertically, sparing nearby glass doors and windows from shattering.
The incident, while shocking, caused only minor injuries to bystanders. Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill confirmed Livelsberger’s identity through military ID, tattoos, and other personal belongings recovered from the charred vehicle. Items found included two semi-automatic pistols, fireworks, and a passport.
Livelsberger was a decorated Special Forces Intelligence Sergeant with decades of military experience, including deployments in Afghanistan. He had been serving in Germany but was on approved leave to visit his wife and eight-month-old daughter in Colorado.
Investigators noted parallels between this incident and a 2020 New Year’s truck attack in New Orleans, where 14 people died. Both suspects were Fort Bragg veterans who had served in Afghanistan and rented vehicles through the same company, though no direct connection between them has been established.
Authorities are still working to uncover Livelsberger’s motive. Sheriff McMahill assured the public that there is no ongoing threat related to the incident.
As the investigation continues, the tragic event underscores the complex struggles some veterans face, leaving a trail of questions and a community searching for answers.
