Authorities found gas tanks, fireworks and fuel in a Cybertruck that exploded in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day. The material was connected to a detonation system controlled by the driver inside the truck, they said.
FBI special agent Jeremy Schwartz told CNN officials are trying to determine whether it was a terrorist incident.
The driver of the truck was shot in the head before the explosion, and police found a gun at the driver’s feet that had been purchased by him on Dec. 30, according to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill. He said authorities believe the driver shot himself.
The rigged explosion occurred several hours after a supporter of the Islamic State killed 14 and injured 35 in an attack in New Orleans.
Here’s what we know about the Las Vegas explosion.
What we know so far about the driver of the Cybertruck
The explosion left the driver dead and seven injured, according to McMahill.
Matthew Livelsberger, 37, was identified as the vehicle’s driver.
Livelsberger was an active duty master sergeant and a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces who was stationed in Germany. He was on approved leave in Colorado at the time of the attack, according to authorities. CBS contacted two of Livelsberger’s relatives, one who said, “Livelsberger’s wife had not heard from him in several days.”
The Independent reported that Livelsberger graduated summa cum laude from Norwich University in Vermont, studying strategic studies and defense analysis.
Where the Cybertruck came from in the Las Vegas attack
The vehicle was rented at around 6 a.m. in Colorado through Turo, a car rental app that was also used in the New Orleans attack, which happened several hours earlier.
Surveillance footage shows the truck driving past Trump Hotel an hour before the explosion, then circling back, stopping, and exploding around 8:40 a.m., according to CNN.
Are there ties between the New Orleans attack and the Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas?
At this point there are no known ties between the two attacks, authorities say. While both of the individuals involved were members of the U.S. military and served at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and in Afghanistan, and both used trucks rented through Turo, so far authorities say they haven’t found a direct link, but that it is still under investigation.
McMahill said there is no evidence the two men served in the same unit or during the same years at Fort Bragg.
“At this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas,” FBI deputy assistant director Christopher Raia said Thursday, according to CNN.
What caused the Cybertruck explosion?
The explosion was caused by “very large firework and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself,” per Tesla CEO Elon Musk on X. He added, “Tesla vehicles transmit their state of health continuously,” allowing him to know the explosion was not a vehicle malfunction.
Since Cybertrucks have thicker stainless steel panels than other trucks, Musk posted that the Tesla “actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards.” He wrote, “Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken.”
McMahill echoed Musk.
“The fact that this was a Cybertruck really limited the damage that occurred inside of the valet, because it had most of the blast go up through the truck and out,” McMahill said. He noted that the glass front doors to the hotel were not broken during the explosion.
