Las Vegas Cybertruck bombing outside Trump hotel appears to be suicide of veteran who had PTSD, FBI says
The Cybertruck bombing that happened outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day appears to be the suicide of a veteran who was struggling with PTSD and other issues, the FBI said Friday.
Police identified Matthew Alan Livelsberger, a 37-year-old active duty member of the Army Special Forces, as the driver of the Cybertruck that exploded in the hotel's valet area Wednesday morning. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Thursday the county coroner had determined Livelsberger shot himself in the head.
Investigators believe the car was detonated at the same time as the suicide, the police department's Sheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters. The detonation was under investigation with help from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, McMahill said.
Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI's office in Las Vegas, said during a news conference Friday that the bureau facilitated obtaining DNA from a family member to confirm Livelsberger's identity.
Information uncovered by investigators and from the Army indicated that Livelsberger likely had PTSD, Evans said. Family issues and personal grievances may have also contributed to Livelsberger renting the car in Colorado, filling it up with explosives and detonating it in Las Vegas, Evans said. The bureau was continuing to investigate the possible contributing factors for the bombing.
"It's evident that the subject considered, planned and thoughtfully prepared for this act alone — that's what we believe, and we have no information to the contrary at this point," Evans said.
While the bombing happened outside a Trump hotel, Livelsberger held no animosity toward President-elect Donald Trump, Evans said. He said the bureau learned that through interviews with Livelsberger's family members, friends, associates and members of the military that he served with. Investigators don't definitively know why Livelsberger chose the hotel, Las Vegas or a Cybertruck for the bombing, McMahill said.
Several other people were injured in the bombing. McMahill said they had minor injuries for which they were treated and released from a hospital.
Investigators also uncovered writings on one of the two phones found in the Cybertruck's wreckage, the police department's Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren told reporters. The writings included a journal of his activities in the 10 days leading up to the bombing, along with two letters that included what Koren described as a variety "grievances and issues," some of which were political and some personal.
A day before the bombing, Livelsberger also sent a disjointed email to a retired Army intelligence officer and military pundit outlining a constellation of grievances and dire warnings related to his military service, but gave no hint of his upcoming actions.
There was no evidence that Wednesday's bombing was connected with the deadly terror attack in New Orleans that happened earlier the same day, Evans said.
"The only things that we have connecting them are incidental, what we believe to be coincidental, similarities," Evans said. He said those similarities include the vehicles being rented through the same service, both perpetrators serving in the military and both staying at an Airbnb.
"We have identified no telephonic or email communication between the subjects, no information that suggests that they knew each other, that they ever served in the same unit, that they were ever assigned at the same place at the same time and had interaction," Evans said.
The FBI has not identified any connection between Livelsberger and a terrorist organization, Evans said. Livelsberger wasn't on the bureau's radar before the bombing and he didn't have a criminal history, Evans said.
The Cybertruck had been rented in Denver by Livelsberger, police said Thursday, and investigators were able to trace its route using data from charging stations and traffic cameras.
