New details emerge from Cybertruck explosion outside Trump’s Vegas hotel that left 1 dead, 7 injured

A Tesla Cybertruck that exploded and caught fire Wednesday morning outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas has left one person dead and seven others injured, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD).

Matthew Alan Livelsberger, a 37-year-old former US Green Beret from Colorado Springs, has been named as the prime suspect by investigators. Las Vegas Metropolitan Sheriff’s Department Kevin McMahillwho provided the information at a press conference Thursday, said Liveslberger’s military ID, credit cards and passport were found in the Cybertruck. Livelsberger was also identified as the person who rented the Cybertruck, and video at various Tesla Supercharging stations between Colorado and Las Vegas identifies him as the driver.

McMahill stopped short of identifying Livelsberger as the victim and said he would wait for DNA to confirm his identity. The sheriff said the man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound moments before the explosion. The gun was registered to Livelsberger.

An eyewitness who recorded a video of the fire inside the hotel is he wrote it on X he said the car went outside and then “exploded.” The video, and others like it, quickly spread on X.

Law enforcement continues to search for several people, McMahill said. Gov. Joe Lombardo said his office is cooperating with LVMPD and partner agencies.

During both meetings, McMahill described the attack that took place on Wednesday morning in New Orleans killed at least 15 people. He did not fully agree with the attack, but said the police were being careful.

“We are very aware of what happened in New Orleans and what happened there, the number of victims there, and the additional IEDs,” he said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. “As you can imagine, with the explosion that happened on Las Vegas Boulevard, we are taking all the steps we need to take to protect our community.”

In a in short that happened Wednesday afternoon, McMahill said the Cybertruck was rented in Colorado through peer-to-peer rental company Turo and was driven to Las Vegas, arriving around 7:30 a.m. PT.

McMahill also said that the Ford truck in New Orleans was rented through Tire. He called it an “accident” and said it was being investigated. Turo, which was founded in 2010 and has been compared to the Airbnb of cars, allows private car owners to rent out their cars through the startup’s website or app. The company, which provided the money IPO in 2022expected to go public this year.

A Tire spokesperson told TechCrunch in an emailed statement that the company is working with law enforcement.

“We are saddened by the violence in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and our prayers are with the victims and their families. We are working closely with law enforcement officials as they investigate these incidents,” the email said. “We do not believe that any of the lenders involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans terrorist attacks had criminal activities that would have identified them as a security risk. We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards of risk management, thanks to our reliable international technology and security and teams that include experienced professionals law enforcement.”

McMahill said law enforcement is looking for a second weapon, adding that it appears to no longer pose a threat to the Las Vegas community. “When it changes, you’ll obviously hear from me to give you any updates,” he said.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote several articles at X, initially saying that “the entire Tesla team is investigating” what happened. “We will post more information as soon as we learn everything. We have never seen this before,” Musk wrote.

Musk later wrote that the car was working as normal, according to telemetry data that he said the Tesla team was seeing.

“Now we have confirmed that the explosion was caused by a large firecracker and / or a bomb that was carried in the bed of a rented Cybertruck and does not belong to the vehicle. All telemetry of the vehicle was good at the time of the explosion,” he wrote.

McMahill himself thanked Musk for giving instructions about the operation of the Cybertruck and a video from the Tesla factory used by the man.

The incident comes as Musk, who also owns X, is closely associated with President-elect Donald Trump. Review of More about Musk’s planes showed at least 31 flights to and from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. This week, a NOW report that Musk has been living in a small house in Mar-a-Lago.

This article has been updated with new information, including that the blast left one person dead and several injured, what was found in the car, and photos.