Explosion in Las Vegas | The suspect is a soldier with “unknown” motivations

(Las Vegas) The suspect found dead in the Tesla Cybertruck vehicle which exploded on Wednesday in front of the Trump hotel in Las Vegas committed suicide, American authorities said on Thursday, specifying that the motivations for this act remained, for the moment, “unknown”.

“We discovered through the medical examiner’s office that the individual had suffered a gunshot wound to the head before the vehicle exploded,” Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a press conference. .

“Matthew Livelsberger, 37, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was identified as the driver of the vehicle in the investigation into the explosion,” police in the southwest city later said. from the United States, on his X account.

Citing the medical examiner’s office, she said he committed suicide.

“His burned body is unrecognizable,” explained Mr. McMahill, affirming that he could not confirm “100%” that this soldier was the individual found inside the Cybertruck vehicle, pending DNA analyses.

Images posted on social networks showed on Wednesday a gray Cybertruck electric vehicle, parked in front of the entrance to the hotel where the name “Trump” is displayed in large format, exploding in a huge cloud of smoke. The explosion also caused seven minor injuries.

“The suspect’s motives remain unknown at this stage. (…) We do not have information that allows us to say with certainty or suggest that it was motivated by a particular ideology,” declared, during the same press conference, Spencer Evans, special agent of the FBI .

The authorities found identity papers in the name of this soldier on site.

Member of the special forces

Matthew Alan Livelsberger is a member of the US Army Special Forces, who was on “approved leave at the time of his death”, a Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement.

According to this spokesperson, Mr. Livelsberger, a decorated soldier, joined in 2006 and served in the army until 2011, before joining the National Guard then the reserve army, and finally joining the special forces in 2012.

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In the rented Cybertruck vehicle, the authorities found “two semi-automatic handguns”, purchased “legally” on December 30, 2024 by Mr. Livelsberger, added Kenny Cooper, of the federal agency ATF, responsible in particular for questions of firearms.

One of the weapons was found at the foot of the body of the individual present in the vehicle, according to the authorities.

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Tesla boss, Elon Musk is an ally of President-elect Donald Trump, who has charged him with an extragovernmental mission of deregulation and reduction of public spending in his future government.

The explosion came hours after a car-ramming attack in New Orleans, in which 14 people were killed and around 30 injured.

The suspect in this attack is a former American soldier named Shamsud-Din Jabbar. He had proclaimed in several videos his support for the Islamic State (IS) group and had also claimed to have joined the jihadist organization, according to the federal police.

The FBI said Thursday that there was no “irrefutable link” between the two events.

There is no information at this time indicating a connection between Las Vegas bombing suspect Matthew Alan Livelsberger and any “terrorist organization around the world,” Spencer said. Evans.

Asked if he could call the act a “suicide mission,” Sheriff McMahill responded, “I have no problem calling it a suicide considering the explosion that occurred immediately afterward.” »

The day before, this police officer had indicated that the rear of the Tesla vehicle contained cans of gasoline and “large fireworks mortars”. He estimated that the structure of the Cybertruck vehicle had “helped limit the damage”.