The driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded near Trump’s Las Vegas hotel was an active-duty Green Beret, a source said.

Driver in The Tesla cybertruck that exploded He was identified Wednesday outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas as Matthew Alan Livelsberger, an active-duty U.S. Army Green Beret, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.

Livelsberger was an Army special forces sergeant, the senior enlisted rank, according to four U.S. officials. He was on active duty in Germany with the 10th Special Forces Group, but was on leave at the time of the incident, three officials said.

The U.S. Army said in a statement Thursday that Leavelsberger was on leave at the time of his death, though it did not specifically say he died in the Vegas bombing. The US Special Forcescommonly known as the Green Berets, describe themselves as an elite combat unit specializing in guerilla warfare and unconventional tactics overseas.

Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a press conference Thursday that the driver shot himself in the head before the explosion that injured seven people outside the Trump Hotel. Although McMahill and other officials referred to the driver only as a “subject” and a “person of interest,” they showed Livelsberger’s photo and named him at the press conference.

McMahill said authorities have not identified Livelsberger as the person found inside the Cybertruck because the body was burned beyond recognition.

“I’m not going back until I have confirmation through DNA or medical records that it is indeed inside the car,” McMahill said.

McMahill said authorities “are confident it’s actually the same person” because the body in the car had two tattoos, on his stomach and arm, that Livelsberger also had. A law enforcement official told CNN that Livelsberger’s wife identified the tattoo.

Spencer Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas division, said the driver’s motives remain unclear and authorities are not aware of any connection “to any terrorist organizations around the world.”

The explosion had some general similarities with car attack in new orleans earlier Wednesday as both involved a symbolic New Year’s Eve target, a truck rented through the Turo website, and a suspect with a military background. Authorities have said they are investigating a possible link between the two attacks, but have repeatedly called the Las Vegas blast an “isolated incident.”

“At this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the attack in Las Vegas,” FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raya said Thursday.

The FBI in Denver, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Colorado Springs Police Department are conducting a “law enforcement operation” at a home in Colorado Springs related to the explosion. the FBI reported.

How the incident developed

The Cybertruck was rented Dec. 28 in Denver and made stops at several Tesla charging stations in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada before entering Las Vegas early on New Year’s morning, McMahill said.

The truck was first spotted in the city at 7:29 a.m., traveling up and down Las Vegas Boulevard before arriving at the Trump Hotel, where fireworks, gas tanks and camping fuel in the back of the vehicle exploded. the device, which was operated by the driver, the police said.

The moment of the truck explosion was recorded in the video from the video surveillance cameras, which was shown by the police. In the corresponding footage on social networks, the car is engulfed in smoke as water is poured over it.

During the press conference, the police released footage showing burnt gasoline containers and pyrotechnic mortars found among the wreckage. Authorities are still working to access footage from cameras inside the Cybertruck that may have captured video during the incident, McMahill said.

Guests staying at the Trump International Hotel at the time of the blast said windows up more than 40 floors were shaking. Guests, who did not want to be identified, said they saw smoke billowing up the stairs and coming out of the elevator doors. The elevator was closed and they were forced to stay on their floor.

On Thursday, damage from the explosion was visible in the valet area of ​​the Trump Hotel. Parts of the ceiling were damaged by smoke, and there was a hole several feet wide in the golden canopy.

The FBI in Denver, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Colorado Springs Police Department conducted a “law enforcement operation” Thursday at a home in Colorado Springs related to the explosion. the FBI reported.

What do we know about the driver?

A family member and former Army colleague described Livelsberger as a highly decorated combat veteran whose experience in SWAT and explosives seemed at odds with the powerless attacks that relied in part on fireworks.

And, according to them, Livelsberger loved the country, especially the newly elected president.

“When President Trump was in office (Leavelsberger) commented on his Facebook page about things President Trump said or did or how he was helping the military,” the relative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told CNN. “Matt had a lot of respect for Mr. Trump — he just loved the guy.”

Livelsberger was not affiliated with a political party, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s voter registration database.

One member of the Green Berets who served with Livelsberger in Afghanistan said the main goal of their mission was to destroy a network of Taliban-linked forces that had been detonating car bombs in and around Kabul in an attempt to destabilize the government.

Livelsberger became a father last April, his former colleague said.

A fellow soldier said he was shocked by the Las Vegas incident, especially given Livelsberger’s impressive credentials: a Green Beret with experience in communications, IT and tactical drones.

A fellow soldier who has been in contact with Livelsberger since their deployment said he did not know if the Cybertruck explosion was in any way inspired by the types of attacks that have been such a common feature of the unit’s mission.

Some similarities to the New Orleans attack

The explosion followed a deadly attack in new orleans, where a driver with a U.S. military record plowed a rental pickup truck into a crowd celebrating New Year’s on Bourbon Street early Wednesday morning, 14 people died.

The man who died in a shootout with police after the attack was identified as an army veteran from Texas and had an ISIS flag on his car. He said in videos taken before the attack authorities said he had joined a terrorist group.

Turo, which operates an online platform for car owners to rent their vehicles, said its service was used to rent vehicles involved in the New Orleans and Las Vegas shootings and is cooperating with authorities.

“We do not believe that any of the tenants involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal history that would identify them as a security threat,” a Turo spokesperson told CNN.

Both men were stationed at Fort Liberty in North Carolina, formerly known as Fort Bragg, but there is no indication that they served in the same unit or in the same years, McMahill said Thursday. The men also served in Afghanistan in 2009, but McMahill said they were not in the same province or unit.

“If it turns out to be just a resemblance, a very uncanny resemblance, then we’re not ready to rule or rule anything out at this stage,” McMahill said. “We haven’t even gotten into phones or computers, which tend to be very, very educational and informative for us in our research.”

The FBI recovered phones and laptops and is searching the residence in connection with the Las Vegas and New Orleans incidents, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. There is no evidence that anyone else was involved in the Cybertruck incident, Mayorkas said.

Livelsberger was a member of the 10th Special Forces Group, whose members were deployed to Germany, where they are working with the US Africa Command. Special Forces units have participated in several counter-terrorism missions in Africa, fighting local groups linked to ISIS and al-Qaeda. He was deployed to Germany and returned to the U.S. on leave around Christmas, a defense official told CNN.

A LinkedIn page under the name “Matt Livelsberger” shows a photo of a SWAT operator wearing a helmet, goggles and snow camouflage, sitting on a snowmobile with a semi-automatic rifle with a scope. It lists Livelsberger’s experience as 19 years in the Army Special Forces, specializing in “intelligence and operations.” Law enforcement officials confirmed to CNN that they believe the page belongs to Livelsberger.

The police thank Elon Musk

The explosion could have been much worse if not for the structure of the car’s body, which helped contain the explosion, police said.

McMahill said the design of the Cybertruck’s body greatly reduced the damage in the valet area of ​​the hotel because most of the blast was directed upward, leaving the front glass of the building unbroken by the blast.

“The fact that it was a Cybertruck really limited the damage that happened inside the valet, because that’s where the explosion is the most. Passed through the truck and got out,” he said. “You’ll see that the front glass door at Trump’s hotel wasn’t even broken by the explosion it was parked in front of.”

“I have to give special credit to Elon Musk,” McMahill added, noting that the Tesla Motors CEO provided authorities with “quite a bit of additional information,” including directly sending them video from his charging stations to help them track down the driver.

“We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb being transported in the back of the rental Cybertruck and is not related to the vehicle itself.” Musk said in a post on X.

“At the time of the explosion, the telemetry of all the vehicles was positive,” Musk added, referring to the automaker’s system, which collects and transmits real-time data on vehicle performance and status, and can monitor mileage and track distance traveled, among other functions. .

Officials also noted the implications of the Tesla car and the hotel’s namesake.

“This is a Tesla truck and we know it Elon Musk is working with President-elect Trumpand it’s Trump Tower,” McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said Wednesday. “So obviously there are things to be concerned about and that’s something we continue to look at.”

Musk has become a key player in Trump’s orbit while transitioning to a second term in the White House. The president-elect has appointed the tech mogul along with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to oversee a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) aimed at cutting government spending.

Renewal: An earlier version of this story included the attacker among those killed in New Orleans. At least 14 people died. The attacker is also dead.

CNN Chelsea Bailey, Brynn Gingras, Lauren Mascareñas, Natasha Chen, Paul P. Murphy and Maureen Choudhury contributed to this report.

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