Who was Matthew Livelsberger, the US Army veteran named as a suspect in the Cybertruck explosion?

The man who died after blowing himself up while inside a Tesla Cybertruck outside Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel on New Year’s Day has been identified as a US Army veteran and member of the elite Green Berets.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, media outlet in Colorado named Matthew Livelsberger as the man who detonated a vehicle outside the Trump International Hotel at 8:40 a.m. on Wednesday. The police are investigating whether it is a terrorist attack.

Livelsberger (37) from Colorado Springs was killed in the explosion, while seven others suffered minor injuries, police said.

The Las Vegas incident was reported shortly after 15 people were killed in New Orleans Shamsud-Din Jabbar – another military veteran – crashed the truck into New Year’s festivities in the crowded French Quarter of the city.

According to the report from Denver 7the two New Year’s Eve attackers reportedly served at the same military base, Fort Bragg, and served in Afghanistan around the same time.

In addition, Livelsberger and Jabbar rented their vehicles through the car-sharing company Turo, officials said. Authorities said there is currently no formal connection between Jabbar and Livelsberger as they investigate a possible connection between the two.

At the time it was fighting in the Middle East, the US had about 100,000 military personnel in Afghanistan as part of President Barack Obama’s “troop surge.”

According to CBS, law enforcement sources said Livelsberger was on active duty in the military in Germany and was on vacation in Colorado at the time of the incident.

However, the 37-year-old’s history provides few clues as to what led up to the Las Vegas incident.

Livelsberger spent 18 of his 19-year military career in special forces, according to his LinkedIn profile. He is believed to have joined the Green Berets as a communications specialist in January 2006, before becoming operations manager and team sergeant in February 2023.

The account’s profile picture shows a man in winter sports gear armed with a rifle, standing atop a snowmobile in mountainous terrain.

His most recent role, as of November 2024, was listed as manager of remote and autonomous systems for the military.

Livelsberger received summa cum laude — an award given to the top student in his class — after graduating from Norwich University in Vermont with a degree in strategic studies and defense analysis, according to his LinkedIn profile.

It also said he received a State Department Award of Merit for “interagency contributions resulting in increased interoperability and effectiveness while serving as an operations sergeant in the Forward Special Operations Command.”

Livelsberger often commented on posts by military personnel. In a comment on a viral post by an Air Force veteran, he responded to the question by stating that “the government” is responsible for making people believe they are responsible for someone else’s student debt.

Student debt relief has been a signature policy of the Biden era.

At age 22, Livelsberger began collecting clothes, toys and educational items for children and distributing humanitarian aid while on tour in Afghanistan, he said. News Journal in his native Ohio.

Appealing to US citizens for donations in January 2010, he told the outlet: “Distributing humanitarian aid remains one of the few approaches to gaining the credibility and loyalty of the people of Afghanistan, and I believe you contribute directly to our success on the ground.”

His ex-wife, believed to be Sara Livelsberger, wrote on Facebook in May 2016 that she is a registered Democrat. She posted a picture of a graphic commissioned by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee featuring Donald Trump that says “stop the bigotry.”

She captioned the post, “Perks of being a registered Democrat… Can’t wait to slap this baby on my truck.”

Sara Livelsberger shared photos of the two together, the last being posted in 2016. The woman had another Facebook page, but it was removed shortly after news of the Cybertruck explosion broke.

In one picture from April 2016, the couple posed for a selfie, with Livelsberger wearing a camouflage backpack.

In another from July 2015, Livelsberger can be seen with a bald eagle tattoo and an American flag on his shoulder, posing with a dog.

A Facebook account that appears to belong to Livelsberger shows a heavily tattooed man holding a baby, and his profile picture was updated in September 2024.

Details on Sara Livelsberger’s Facebook page and published information about Livelsberger’s age official reports. One post from 2015 read: “It’s my old husbands 28th birthday!”

Sources told Denver 7 that multiple addresses were linked to Livelsberger in the Colorado Springs area. The FBI was investigating these properties.

According to reports, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was brought in to help.

Authorities are continuing to investigate the explosion as a possible act of terrorism, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department official said. ABC Newsbut a potential motive is not yet known.

“We’re investigating a number of leads at this time and I’m not ready to release any of that information to you yet,” Las Vegas County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference Wednesday night. “I can tell you that there are currently seven victims who have sustained injuries from the explosion.”

The fire has since been extinguished by the Clark County Fire Department.

A video posted on social media showed different angles of the explosion, which appeared to include fireworks.

Fireworks mortars and fuel canisters were found in the truck, sources told Denver 7.

McMahill highlighted the connection between Trump and Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and the new head of the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, which is tasked with cutting trillions in government spending.

“Obviously Cybertruck, the Trump Hotel, there are a lot of questions we have to answer,” McMahill said, noting the close relationship between the president-elect and Tesla founder Elon Musk

Musk took the opportunity to praise Tesla’s Cybertruck for being so tough that he said it helped contain the explosion.

“The evil bastards chose the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. The Cybertruck actually contained the blast and directed the blast upwards,” he wrote in a post on X.

This article has been amended to clarify the relationship between Sarah Livelsberger and the suspect.