LAST UPDATE | 2 Jan
THE MAN INSIDE the Tesla Cybertruck that burst into flames outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel suffered a gunshot to the head before the explosion, officials have said.
Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference that a handgun was found at the feet of the man who has been identified as Matthew Livelsberger. Officials believe the shot was self-inflicted.
Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to counter terrorism abroad and train partners, the Army said in a statement.
He had served in the US Army since 2006, rising through the ranks with a long career of overseas assignments, deploying twice to Afghanistan and serving in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and DR Congo.
He was awarded two Bronze Stars, including one with a valour device for courage under fire, a combat infantry badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valour. Livelsberger was on approved leave when he died, according to the statement.
Livelsberger spent time at the base formerly known as Fort Bragg, a centre in North Carolina that is home to special forces command.
The FBI said on Thursday that it was “conducting law enforcement activity” at a home in Colorado Springs related to Wednesday’s explosion but provided no other details.
The explosion came hours after a driver, Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar (42), rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 15 people before being shot to death by police.
That crash is being investigated as a terrorist attack and police believe the driver was not acting alone.
Jabbar, a US Army veteran, also spent time at Fort Bragg but one official said so far there is no overlap in their assignments there.
Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said video captured at Telsa charging stations provided by chief executive Elon Musk helped authorities track the vehicle’s journey, arriving in Las Vegas about 7.30am local time, then driving about an hour later into the valet area of the Trump International Hotel, where it sat 15 to 20 seconds before the explosion occurred.
Video presented at an afternoon news conference showed a tumble of charred fireworks mortars, cannisters and other explosive devices crowded into the back of the pick-up. The truck bed walls were still intact because the blast shot straight up rather than to the sides.
Musk said on 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”.
He continued: “All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”
In an earlier post on the platform Musk said that his entire senior team was investigating the explosion, adding: “We’ve never seen anything like this.”
Musk has recently become a member of Trump’s inner circle. Neither Trump nor Musk were in Las Vegas early yesterday. Both had attended Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at Trump’s estate in South Florida.
Musk was at Trump’s resort on election night and has been a frequent guest there. Trump has named Musk, the world’s richest man, to co-lead a new effort to find ways to cut the government’s size and spending.
“This is a Tesla truck, and we know that Elon Musk is working with President-elect Trump, and it’s the Trump Tower,” McMahill said when reporters asked about possible political connections. “So there’s obviously things to be concerned about and it’s something we continue to look at.”
The 64-storey hotel is just off the Las Vegas Strip and across the street from the Fashion Show Las Vegas shopping mall.
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