Matthew Alan Livelsberger: What we know about the suspect in the Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion

Despite the symbolism that might be associated with exploding a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, law enforcement officials said Thursday they were still trying to piece together why a five-time Bronze Star recipient and new father would orchestrate the New Year’s Day blast. “But we don’t have information at this point that definitively tells us, or suggests, it was because of this particular ideology.” The Las Vegas explosion bore some striking similarities to a deadly attack in New Orleans earlier the same morning, when a driver with a US military background plowed a rented pickup truck into a crowd celebrating New Year’s on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people. “Luckily, our unit was never struck, but other units that colocated with us got struck by IEDs.” The fellow soldier, who had kept in touch with Livelsberger since their deployment, said he didn’t know whether the explosion of the Cybertruck was in any way inspired by the kind of attacks so common a feature of the unit’s mission. The military colleague said he was shocked by the incident in Las Vegas, especially given Livelsberger’s impressive credentials: a Green Beret with a background in communications, IT and tactical unmanned aerial vehicles.