What we know about the Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas
The man who was driving a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning shot himself in the head immediately before the vehicle was engulfed by fire, authorities said Thursday.
Earlier Thursday, military officials identified the driver as an Army master sergeant who had been on leave from active duty.
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Authorities are still working to determine exactly what happened, and what the motivation was for the incident, which injured seven people. Here is what we know so far.
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WHAT HAPPENED ON THE MORNING OF THE EXPLOSION?
About 8:40 a.m. local time Wednesday, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a report of an explosion at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, a 64-story tower on Fashion Show Drive, which is just off the Las Vegas Strip.
A rented 2024 Tesla Cybertruck had “pulled up to the glass entrance doors of the hotel,” according to Sheriff Kevin McMahill, before it exploded. Witnesses saw the vehicle engulfed in flames as it sat in front of the hotel.
After firefighters extinguished the blaze, authorities said they found gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars in the back of the truck; they said they did not know how the explosion had been ignited.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a statement on the social platform X that “the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck” and that the vehicle had been functioning properly.
Musk has cultivated a close relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, whose name adorns the hotel where the Tesla exploded. Federal filings showed that Musk spent more than $250 million in the final months of the presidential campaign to help Trump win the White House.
Trump is set to take office Jan. 20, and he has selected Musk to serve as co-leader of a new government efficiency commission.
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Who was the driver?
In a statement sent to reporters Thursday, the Army identified the driver as Matthew Alan Livelsberger.
According to the Army, Livelsberger enlisted as a Special Forces trainee and served on active duty from January 2006 to March 2011, then served in the National Guard from March 2011 to July 2012, and in the Army Reserve from July 2012 to December 2012.
He reentered active duty in December 2012, serving with U.S. Army Special Operations. At the time of the explosion, he had been on approved leave.
Livelsberger was a 37-year-old from Colorado Springs, Colorado, McMahill said Thursday, adding that in addition to the gunshot wound, Livelsberger’s body had been burned “beyond recognition.”
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Was anybody hurt?
Livelsberger was the only person in the truck, authorities said, and died inside the vehicle. At least seven other people suffered minor injuries.
People who were staying at the hotel said they had been evacuated from the building because of the explosion. The hotel did not appear to be badly damaged.
The FBI said it was investigating whether it could be considered an act of terrorism. As of Wednesday afternoon, McMahill said there was “no further threat to the community.”
On Thursday morning, the scene at the Trump hotel appeared to be quiet, with a police vehicle sitting near the entrance and a security guard putting up caution tape near the site of the explosion.
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Is this connected to the New Orleans attack?
According to the FBI, no connection has been found between the explosion in Las Vegas and the New Orleans attack that left 14 people dead.
But Christopher Raia, a deputy assistant director with the FBI, said Thursday that federal and local law enforcement agencies were still investigating and had not ruled anything out.
In New Orleans, a man driving a pickup truck killed 14 people in the early hours of New Year’s Day, just hours before the Tesla exploded in Las Vegas.
