Police try to determine motive in Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion at Trump hotel
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Matthew Livelsberger died in an apparent suicide after reportedly breaking up with wife six days before explosion. Police in the US were still probing the possible motivations and background of Matthew Livelsberger, the decorated special forces soldier who died in an apparent suicide and vehicle bombing of a Trump hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day.
Authorities said that Livelsberger shot himself dead inside the Tesla seconds before the vehicle packed with fireworks, gas-filled tanks and camping fuel exploded outside the hotel lobby. The incident came hours after an Islamic State-inspired veteran killed 14 and wounded dozens in a truck attack, setting off speculation that the two incidents could be linked. However, no link has yet emerged and the two attacks are now widely seen as separate, though investigations continue.
Playful texts to an ex-girlfriend sent by Livelsberger just two days before the incident showed that the Green Beret, who was on leave from his post in Europe, was excited to rent the Tesla Cybertruck used in the attack. “I rented a Tesla Cybertruck. It’s the s***,” he wrote to former girlfriend Alicia Arritt on 29 December from Denver. “I feel like Batman or halo.” He said the vehicle was “ungodly” fast.
The texts, obtained by the Denver Gazette, showed that Livelsberger, 37, continued to communicate with Arritt, including on New Year’s Eve, when he sent photos and videos of the electric vehicle. Arritt, who provided the texts to the outlet, said she had not heard from Livelsberger for three years after they broke up in 2021 and said she had no foresight that he was planning to blow up the Las Vegas strip hotel.
