The suspected driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded Wednesday outside the Trump International Las Vegas Hotel sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head prior to the blast, officials confirmed in a press briefing Thursday.
Active duty Army soldier Matthew Livelsberger, 37, was also identified as the individual believed to have died in the the explosion. No one else suffered serious injuries.
Officials are still waiting for DNA testing to come back to definitively confirm the person who died in the vehicle was Livelsberger, but overwhelming evidence — including credit cards in his name, similar tattoos, Livelsberger purchasing the weapons in the truck and an ID card — points to him as the individual. The fire and explosion made the identification process difficult because of the physical injuries sustained by the driver, officials said.
Livelsberger shot himself in the head prior to the explosion and a gun was found at his feet, according to Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Two guns — one handgun and one rifle, which were found in the vehicle “burnt beyond recognition” — had been purchased legally on Monday.
Livelsberger served as a Green Beret in the Army and was on approved leave from serving in Germany at the time of his death, a U.S. Army spokesperson said Thursday.
The incident is not believed to have any direct connection to the New Year’s Day truck attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people — as well as the suspect — and injured 35 others, according to the FBI.
“At this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas,” the FBI’s Christopher Raia said Thursday morning at a press conference on the New Orleans attack.
The two drivers may have overlapped at Fort Liberty or in Afghanistan, though no evidence suggests the two ever were assigned together or knew each other, McMahill said.
Livelsberger was a supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, an official briefed on the probe told ABC News. His wife, who investigators spoke to in Colorado Springs, said he had been out of the house since around Christmas after a dispute over allegations of infidelity, the official said.
His wife told officials she did not believe Livelsberger would want to hurt anyone, the official told ABC News.
Livelsberger is believed to have told the person he rented the truck from that he was going camping at the Grand Canyon, the official told ABC News.
Investigators are still looking to determine how the items in the truck were detonated, but with the contents of the vehicle so badly burned, it may be a slow process, according to the official.
The vehicle was picked up by license plate readers traveling from Colorado to Las Vegas on Wednesday morning.
The driver of the Cybertruck pulled into the valet area of the hotel and the vehicle exploded, according to an official. The driver was the only fatality from the incident. Seven bystanders had minor injuries, authorities said.
McMahill told reporters the truck was in front of the hotel for 17 seconds before it exploded.
The sheriff said Tesla CEO Elon Musk helped the investigation by having the truck unlocked after it auto-locked in the blast and by giving investigators video of the suspect at charging stations along its route from Colorado to Las Vegas.
McMahill said investigators were looking into any possible connections to the deadly attack in New Orleans earlier Wednesday but had not yet discovered a connection. Like the truck used in the New Orleans attack, the Cybertruck was also rented with the Turo app, officials said.
Video played at the Las Vegas news conference showed a load of fireworks-style mortars, gasoline cans and camping fuel canisters in the back of the truck.
McMahill said police believe the explosion was an “isolated incident” and that “there is no further threat to the community.” He also said police do not believe anyone was helping the Las Vegas suspect.
“We believe everything is safe now,” McMahill said.
The property is the subject of frequent threats and heightened security given its connection to Trump.
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