The driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel on New Year’s Day has been identified as Matthew Livelsberger, according to local media reports.
Multiple informed sources told ABC affiliate Denver 7 and KOAA News that Livelsberged, 37, a former Army veteran of Colorado Springs, was behind the wheel of the vehicle which exploded outside the Trump International Hotel at Las Vegas Boulevard and Sammy Davis Jr. Drive at 8.40 a.m. on Wednesday.
Livelsberger allegedly died in the blast, according to the sources. Police are yet to officially confirm the identity of the deceased individual.
Seven indivduals sustained injuries, Las Vegas County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said in a news conference on Wednesday. Two of the casualties were transported to University Medical Center Southern Nevada for treatment. All injuries are minor, the sheriff said.
The suspect is believed to have rented the Tesla Cybertuck in Colorado via the carsharing company, Turo.
Sources told the outlet that multiple addresses had been associated with the alleged suspect, with the FBI awaiting a search warrant for one residence on Marksheffel road late on Wednesday. The Burea of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Exploves have been brought in to assist, according to reports.
Authorities continue to investigate the explosion as a possible act of terror, an official with Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told ABC News, but a potential motive is not yet known.
“At this time, we are investigating a number of leads, and I’m not prepared to release any of that information to you just yet. I can tell you that there are seven victims right now that sustained injuries from the explosion,” McMahill said.
The fire has since been extinguished by the Clark County fire department.
McMahill highlighted the link between Trump and Elon Musk, the Tesla founder and the president-elect’s incoming head of the unofficial Department of Goverment Efficiency.
“Obviously a Cybertruck, the Trump hotel, there are lots of questions we have to answer,” McMahill said, underscoring the close relationship between the president-elect and Tesla founder Elon Musk.
Musk took the opportunity to praise Tesla’s Cybertruck for being so sturdy that he said it helped contain the blast.
“The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards,” he wrote in a post on X.
The cause wasn’t immediately known, but McMahill noted during the press conference that officials are “very well aware” of the New Orleans attack in which Texas resident Shamsud Din Jabbar intentionally drove a truck into a crowd of people celebrating New Year’s Eve just hours earlier, killing at least 15 people.
Livelsberger and Jabbar allegedly served at the same military base, sources told Denver7.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
