FBI says no definitive link between Vegas Tesla blast and New Orleans attack
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The man inside the rented Cybertruck when it exploded has been identified as Matthew Livelsberger, an active-duty soldier assigned to the US Army Special Operations Command who was on approved leave at the time of the incident.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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LAS VEGAS - The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Jan 2 said it had so far found no definitive link between the New Year’s Day New Orleans pickup truck attack
The Las Vegas explosion
Law enforcement officials identified the man inside the Tesla Cybertruck as Matthew Livelsberger, an active-duty US Army soldier, the Associated Press and other media reported on Jan 2.
The FBI has identified the person driving the Cybertruck but was not ready to release that information, FBI special agent in charge Jeremy Schwartz told reporters on Jan 1.
The FBI did not respond to a request for more information on Jan 2.
Livelsberger was assigned to the US Army Special Operations Command and was on approved leave at the time of his death, a US Army official said.
The US Army Special Operations Command would not comment on an ongoing investigation, a spokesperson said.
Livelsberger had been on active duty from January 2006 to March 2011, and later served in the National Guard and Army Reserve before re-entering active duty in December 2012 as a US Army Special Operations soldier, according to a US Army official.
Livelsberger does not appear to have a criminal record. He has been linked to addresses in Colorado Springs since 2013.
The authorities on Jan 1 said that the Tesla Cybertruck was rented out of Colorado. FOX21 in Colorado reported a law enforcement presence at a town home complex in a Colorado Springs neighbourhood late on Jan 1 night.
The FBI’s Denver office on Jan 2 said that a search of a residential address in Colorado Springs by the federal and local authorities was related to the Las Vegas explosion.
Videos taken by witnesses inside and outside the Las Vegas hotel showed the vehicle exploding and flames pouring out of it, as it sat outside the building at around 8.40am local time on Jan 1 (12.40am on Jan 2 in Singapore).
US President-elect Donald Trump’s son Eric praised Las Vegas fire and law enforcement officials on Jan 1 for their quick reaction to the explosion.
‘Lots of questions’
The Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas is part of the Trump Organisation, the company of Trump, who will return to the White House on Jan 20.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk was a key backer of Trump
“Obviously a Cybertruck, the Trump hotel – there are lots of questions that we have to answer,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference.
Police said the truck arrived in Las Vegas at around 7.30am and was driven through the city’s hotel- and casino-lined Strip until it reached the Trump hotel, where it stopped in the valet area.
The Trump hotel was evacuated after the explosion and most of its visitors were moved to another hotel.
“Detectives found gasoline canisters and large firework mortars in the bed of the truck,” a police statement said.
Mr Schwartz, the FBI special agent in charge, said it was not yet clear whether the blast was an act of terrorism.
Police cars and officers standing in the car park of the Trump International Hotel, in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan 1.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Mr Musk, in a post on X, said: “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.”
Both the Cybertruck and the vehicle used in the New Orleans attack had been rented through car-sharing service Turo, Sheriff McMahill said.
A Turo spokesperson said the company did not believe either of the renters of the vehicles involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat. REUTERS
