Newly released footage from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department offers a clearer view of the Tesla Cybertruck explosion that occurred outside the Trump Hotel on New Year’s Day. The video shows a different angle of the event, revealing the detonation of explosives within the vehicle, which resulted in a fiery explosion while the driver, identified as Army Special Forces soldier Matthew Livelsberger, was inside.
Livelsberger, who was found with legally purchased firearms, sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head prior to the explosion. Authorities report the gunshot exited the left side of his head after he placed a weapon in his mouth. A portion of a letter penned by Livelsberger was released by the Clark County Nevada Sheriff’s Department. In it, he explicitly stated that the incident was not a terrorist act, but rather a “wake-up call” intended to garner attention. He described his actions as a “stunt with fireworks and explosives,” aimed at addressing what he perceived as weak leadership and the desensitization of Americans to violence.
Livelsberger, who identified himself as a supporter of Donald Trump, expressed his motivations in the letter, stating his desire to “cleanse [his] mind of the brothers I’ve lost and relieve [himself] of the burden of the lives I took.” He further called upon fellow service members, veterans, and all Americans to awaken to what he considered to be ineffective leadership. Livelsberger, a Green Beret who served in Afghanistan and Central Asia, tragically ended his life in this dramatic and destructive act.