A post on social media shows Matthew Livelsberger appearing to show support for Ukraine in a 2016 photograph.
Livelsberger is suspected of blowing himself up inside a Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day
Newsweek has reached out to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Investigators are currently working to try and determine whether the Las Vegas attack could be politically motivated. One person was killed in the attack, believed to be the person behind the wheel of the vehicle that exploded.
What To Know
Matthew Livelsberger has been named by local media as the dead man inside the explosives-filled Tesla Cybertruck that went up in flames outside President-elect Donald Trump‘s Las Vegas hotel on January 1.
In a post on social media, a user posted a picture of Livelsberger that was taken from the Facebook account of the woman who is believed to be, or have been, Livelsberger’s wife.
The picture appears to have been taken in 2016 and shows what is believed to be Livelsberger wearing a T-shirt that reads “Slava Ukraini,” which translates to “Glory to Ukraine” in English.
The person who posted the photo on X, formerly Twitter, captioned the post “Is this the Trump Tower suspect Matthew Livelsberger in a Slava Ukraini shirt? Cause that might explain a lot!”
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. However, in 2014 Russia illegally annexed Crimea and fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
Livelsberger is believed to be a 37-year-old U.S. army veteran who served for over 19 years and was a Green Beret.
There has been significant speculation online over his political affiliations, but no confirmed reports of how he identified politically, or which party he reported.
What People Are Saying
Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said on Wednesday: “This is a Tesla truck, and we know that Elon Musk is working with President-elect Trump, and it’s the Trump Tower.
“There’s obviously things to be concerned about and it’s something we continue to look at.”
In a post on his platform Truth Social, President-elect Donald Trump wrote: “Our country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the world.”
He then blasted Democrats who, he said, had allowed “violent scum” to infiltrate the country.
What’s Next
The Las Vegas police continue to investigate the truck blast. During Wednesday’s news conference, Jeremy Schwartz, acting FBI Special Agent in Charge for the Las Vegas office, confirmed that the FBI is also involved in the investigation and is looking at potential links to the truck attack in New Orleans in the early hours of New Year’s Day that left 15 people dead.
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