A soldier who died in a Cybertruck explosion outside Trump’s hotel has left a note calling it a ‘wake-up call’ for the US.
The soldier who died when a Tesla Cybertruck exploded at Trump’s Las Vegas hotel left a note saying it was a surprise to serve as a “wake-up call” to the country’s problems, investigators said Friday.
Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Green Beret from Colorado Springs, Colo., apparently has no animosity toward president-elect Donald Trump, Clark County sheriff’s officials said.
Livelsberger wrote in the paper that he needed to “cleanse my mind” of the lost lives of people he knew and “the burden of the lives I took.”
“While this incident is more public and dramatic than usual, it appears to be a tragic suicide involving a highly decorated military veteran suffering from PTSD and other issues,” FBI Special Agent Spencer Evans said in a news release. conference.
This explosion caused minor injuries to seven people but there was no damage to the hotel.
“This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake-up call. The American people only care about spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than with fireworks and explosives,” Livelsberger wrote in a letter obtained by authorities. who issued only extracts from it.
Investigators identified Livelsberger as the driver of the Tesla – who was burned in an unknown manner – and the Clark County coroner’s office ruled his death a suicide caused by a gunshot wound.
Pentagon officials declined to say whether Livelsberger may have had a mental health problem but said they had turned over his medical records to police.
The new details emerged as investigators sought to determine what Livelsberger was up to, including whether he wanted to make a political point with Tesla and a hotel named after the president-elect.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently became a member of Trump’s inner circle. Neither Trump nor Musk were in Las Vegas early Wednesday, the day of the blast. Both attended Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at his South Florida estate.
Musk spent about $250 million during the presidential campaign to support Trump, who has called on Musk, the world’s richest man, to co-lead a new effort to find ways to reduce the size and spending of government.
Investigators suspect Livelsberger may have been planning a deadly attack but the metal-sided car absorbed too much energy from the poorly constructed bomb.
Investigators previously said Livelsberger shot himself in the head inside an explosives-laden Tesla Cybertruck shortly before it exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day.
“It’s not lost on us that it’s in front of the Trump building, that it’s a Tesla car, but we don’t have any information yet that clearly tells us or suggests that it’s because of this idea,” said Evans, of the organization. The FBI, said Thursday in a press conference.
Asked Friday if Livelsberger had a mental health problem that may have contributed to his suicide, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters that “the department has turned over all health records to local law enforcement.”
A law enforcement official said investigators learned through interviews that Livelsberger may have had an argument with his wife about relationship problems shortly before he rented a Tesla on Saturday and bought guns. The official spoke and asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to talk about the ongoing investigation.
Authorities are still working to determine a motive. Among the burned items found inside the truck were a gun at Livelsberger’s feet, another gun, explosives, a passport, a military ID, credit cards, an iPhone and a smartwatch, McMahill said. Authorities said both guns were legally purchased.
A decorated veteran
Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces that work to fight terrorism abroad and train our partners. He has served in the military since 2006, rising through the ranks for a long overseas deployment, deployed twice to Afghanistan and served in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, the military said. He had just returned from an overseas assignment in Germany and was on authorized leave when he died, according to a US official.
He was awarded a total of five Bronze Stars, including one with a device for gallantry in action, the Army Combat Badge and the Army Commendation Medal.
Authorities searched a townhouse in Livelsberger’s hometown Thursday as part of the investigation. Neighbors said the man who lived there had a wife and a child.
Cindy Helwig, who lives near the small road that separates these houses, said that the last time she saw a man she knew as Matthew was two weeks ago when she asked him if she could borrow a tool he needed to fix the SUV he was working on.
“He was a normal person,” said Helwig, who said he last saw his wife and baby earlier this week.
The explosion of the truck, which was full of explosives and petrol cans, happened hours after Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, rammed his truck into a crowd in the famous French suburb of New Orleans on New Year’s Day, killing at least 14 people. people before being shot and killed by the police. The FBI says it believes Jabbar acted alone and is investigating it as a terrorist attack.
Christopher Raia, deputy director of the FBI, said Thursday that officials found “no direct connection” between the New Orleans attack and the Las Vegas truck explosion.
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