Tesla Cybertruck driver shot himself in head before explosion as police 'not ruling out' links to New Orleans case

2 January 2025, 19:29 | Updated: 2 January 2025, 20:47

The driver of a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel was found with a gunshot wound to the head and his body burnt beyond recognition.

One person died and seven people were injured after the vehicle exploded on Wednesday.

The driver was named as Matthew Livelsberger, an active unit Green Beret in the US Army.

Military ID and a passport with his name were found in the truck - also matching that of the person who rented the vehicle.

It is believed that his gunshot wound was "self-inflicted".

Read more: Pictured: Tesla Cybertruck bomber identified following explosion outside Trump's Vegas hotel

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One person dies when Tesla Cybertruck explodes outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel

Two handguns were found in the truck, which were both registered to Livelsberger.

Police said they did not have "100% confirmation" that he was the person found due to the body being burnt "beyond recognition". 

However, they have "confidence" that it is him due to his tattoos.

Officials are still not sure of the motive but are looking into "strange similarities" between the incident and the attack in New Orleans.

Police are "not ruling out" links between the two, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said on Thursday, but they do not believe there is "any further threat from the subject".

Both suspects rented cars from the same place and both were stationed in Fort Brag, North Carolina, while serving in the US Army. They were not in the same unit.

A county spokeswoman said in a statement that the fire in the valet area of the hotel was reported at 8.40am local time.

Law enforcement officers are treating the incident as an act of terror, and raided the home of a 37-year-old man from Colorado Springs on Wednesday night local time.

Authorities were seen to usher residents away from the area as armed officers entered the residential complex on Wednesday evening US time.

Elon Musk confirmed in a post on X that the explosion was caused by "very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself".

It came after he said that he had "the whole Tesla senior team" investigating the incident.

"We’ve never seen anything like this," he said.