Tesla Cybertruck blast: US Army soldier Matthew Livelsberger who blew up truck left note, saying it is wake-up call for America

A US Army soldier, who died after he blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas, left a note saying the blast was a “wake-up call” for the country’s ills and not a “terrorist attack”.

Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Armyman from Colorado Springs, wrote in his mobile phone that he wanted to “cleanse” his mind after losing his brothers and “relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took”, according to investigators. Livelsberger, who died from a self-inflicting gun wound, served in the US Army since 2006 and was deployed in Afghanistan twice.

“This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake-up call. Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives,” Livelsberger wrote in one letter that was found and released by authorities. In another letter, Livelsberger said the US was “terminally ill and headed towards a collapse”.

Law enforcement officials said Livelsberger had harboured no ill will towards US President-elect Donald Trump, CNN reported. In one of the notes, the suspect said that America needed to “rally around” Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who is set to serve as an adviser to the Republican leader.

Investigators said the suspect’s letters focused on a range of topics, including political grievances, societal problems and domestic and international issues, including the Russia-Ukraine war.

The Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel on Wednesday and the incident left seven people injured. Authorities said on Friday that Livelsberger’s identity was confirmed through tattoos on his body by relatives and a DNA test. The FBI was probing whether the incident was an act of terrorism.

The blast occurred just hours after the suspect, also a US Army veteran, drove a truck into crowds of New Year’s Day revellers in New Orleans and opened fire, killing 15 people. US President Joe Biden said the FBI was probing any possible link between the two incidents.

The January 1 blast was caused by a combination of fireworks, gas tanks and camping fuel in the bed of the vehicle, which was controlled by a device operated by the driver.

Livelsberger was an active member of the US Army Green Beret, a highly trained special force involved in guerrilla warfare and unconventional fighting tactics. Apart from Afghanistan, he served in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, according to the Army.

At the time of the Las Vegas explosion, Livelsberger was on approved leave and had recently returned from an overseas assignment in Germany.

According to Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas Division, the incident appeared to be “a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily decorated combat veteran who was struggling with PTSD and other issues”, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, Tesla engineers extracted data from the exploded Cybertruck for investigators. Police also released footage that showed the suspect at a Tesla charging station while he was en route to Las Vegas, Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said.

“We still have a large volume of data to go through. There’s thousands if not millions of videos and photos and documents and web history and all of those things that need to be analysed,” Koren said.

Investigators found a 10-day “journal of activity” or “surveillance log” in one of Livelsberger’s phones from December 21 to 31, that showed the suspect’s history of purchases of firearms, camping equipment and other items, CNN reported.

(with inputs from The Associated Press)