Who was Matthew Livelsberger? US Army soldier behind Cybertruck explosion near Trump's Las Vegas Hotel

UPDATED: Jan 2, 2025 23:06 IST

The person killed in the Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel was an active-duty US Army soldier.

Authorities identified the suspect as Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Matthew Livelsberger was a member of the Army’s elite Green Berets, a special forces unit and guerrilla warfare experts, according to an Army statement.

He had served in the Army since 2006, rising through the ranks, and was on approved leave when he died. The Green Berets work to counter terrorists abroad using unconventional techniques.

Livelsberger spent time at the base formerly known as Fort Bragg, a massive Army base in North Carolina that is home to Army special forces command.

The explosion of the truck, packed with fireworks, mortars and camp fuel canisters, came hours after 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans', killing at least 15 people before being shot to death by police.

Jabbar, a US Army veteran, also spent time at Fort Bragg, now called Fort Liberty.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday afternoon on X that “we have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself.”

“All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion,” Musk wrote.

(With input from AP)