Investigators in Las Vegas said letters and emails from a cellphone and dental records provided by the Army confirmed that a Special Forces soldier was behind the wheel of a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded in front of a Las Vegas hotel. The new information also painted a picture, investigators said, of a combat veteran in a mental health crisis during the months leading up to the New Year’s Day incident.
Master Sgt. Matthew Livelsberger, 37, likely shot himself before a bomb in the Tesla exploded, authorities said. Investigators also discussed letters obtained from Livelsberger’s cellphone in which he called his act “not a terrorist attack” but a “wake up call” for Americans who “only pay attention to spectacles and violence.”
“We are the United States of America, the best country people to ever exist, but right now we are terminally ill and headed towards collapse,” Livelsberger wrote, adding that it was a way to “cleanse my mind of the brothers I’ve lost and relieved myself of the burden of the lives I took.”
An FBI official said that Livelsberger had not previously been identified as a security concern and had no criminal record.
“Prior to this incident, the FBI did not have any information on this subject. He was not on our radar. He didn’t have a criminal history. There was nothing that we would have been looking into him for up until this point,” Spencer Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas division said at a Friday press conference.
Instead, Evans said, Livelsberger appeared to have decided to end his life in a way to draw public attention.
“Although this incident is more public and more sensational than usual, it ultimately appears to be a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily decorated combat veteran who is struggling with PTSD and other issues,” Evans said.
Officials did not immediately clarify if Livelsberger had been medically diagnosed with a mental condition, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.
“Investigative steps have discovered and information with the Army indicates that he likely suffered from PTSD and we are also aware that there were potential other family issues or personal grievances in his own life that may have been contributing factors,” Evans said.
McMahill said officials believe Livelsberger’s suicide was “simultaneous at this at the time of the detonation,” adding that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is bringing in experts to look at the “what that sequence was for the initiation of the explosion.”
“It’s very difficult to see inside of those Teslas even with the camera angles that we have so we still remain challenged on finding some of that exact timing on all of that,” he said.
Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill noted the mental health impacts on Livelsberger, a 19-year Green Beret who served five combat tours and earned five Bronze Stars, including one with Valor, an indicator of heavy combat.
A long career in Special Forces
Livelsberger originally enlisted in 2006 as an 18X, the designation for a Special Forces candidate when they enter the Green Beret training pipeline. He served in the active duty Army from January 2006 to March 2011. Livelsberger then joined the National Guard from March 2011 to July 2012. During this time, according to Livelsberger’s LinkedIn profile, he worked as a hyperspectral imaging integrator for General Dynamics where he engineered and deployed with the company’s “Lightguard Minotaur” system.
He returned to active duty in December 2012 with an assignment to the Army’s Special Operations Command, or USASOC, which oversees nearly all Special Forces units. Livelsberger’s most recent position, according to his LinkedIn, was a remote and autonomous systems manager.
The letters discussed conflicts around the world, domestic issues, and political grievances Livelsberger held, officials said. Officials said it’s unclear if Livelsberger picked a property associated with President-elect Donald Trump out of political opposition. Instead, his letters referred to the act as a “strunt” and that he was attempting to get the “attention of the American people.”
Confirmation
Officials were also able to confirm Livelsberger as the driver of the Tesla Cybertruck with dental records supplied by the Department of Defense and DNA provided by his family.
Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said officials used surveillance footage from different locations, financial records, call data logs and Tesla charging station data to confirm his driving route and his equipment purchases which matched notes they recovered from one of Livelsberger’s cellphones.
Officials also noted that he was the only person in the vehicle and that using the Cybertruck’s SDMI chip, they confirmed that it was not in self-driving mode during the incident.
Officials also noted that the letters recovered from one of Livelsberger’s cellphone’s gives insight into conflicts, domestic issues, and political grievances he held. Koren told reporters they would release Livelsberger’s letters “so people can understand the best they can what the person’s thought process was at one point in time” but cautioned that there was still more content to go through, including a second cellphone and laptop that they have yet to access.
Officials also said they were aware of an email allegedly written by Livelsberger that was released on a popular podcast hosted by former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor Shawn Ryan Friday. McMahill said they were aware of the document but have not verified it “entirely.”
Evans also reiterated that authorities have not uncovered any connections between Livelsberger and a second violent incident on New Year’s Day in New Orleans. In that attack, an Army veteran drove through the city’s popular Bourbon Street and killed at least 15. McMahill noted that the two incidents shared several aspects, such as timing and use of a rented pickup truck, but “have not found throughout this investigation anything that ties the two attacks directly together.”
“We have outstanding search warrants and subpoenas, interviews that are being conducted around the globe as we try to paint a comprehensive picture of exactly what happened,” Evans said. “That being said, we do feel confident that we have a much better sense of how we arrived at the events of the first of January.”