LAS VEGAS (AP) — The person who died in the explosion of a Cybertruck loaded with explosives in front of a hotel belonging to President-elect Donald Trump in Las Vegas was an active-duty soldier in the Army, authorities reported on Thursday.
Two officers identified the man inside the futuristic-looking Tesla vehicle as Matthew Livelsberger. The officers informed The Associated Press under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about an ongoing investigation.
Livelsberger was a member of the Green Berets, a special forces unit and experts in guerrilla warfare, according to an Army statement. He joined the armed forces in 2006, rising through the ranks, and was on approved leave when he died, the statement indicated. The Green Berets work to counter terrorists abroad using unconventional techniques.
Livelsberger spent some time at the base formerly known as Fort Bragg, a huge military base in North Carolina, home to the Army's Special Forces Command.
The FBI said on Thursday in a post on X that it was "conducting law enforcement activities" at a house in Colorado Springs related to the explosion on Wednesday, but did not provide further details.
How was the attack in front of a Trump hotel in Las Vegas?
The explosion of the vehicle, loaded with fireworks mortars and fuel canisters for camping, occurred several hours after Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, rammed a van into a crowd in the famous French Quarter of New Orleans on New Year's Eve, killing at least 15 people before being shot by the police.
Jabbar, a veteran of the Army, was also at Fort Bragg, now called Fort Liberty, but an official said that, so far, there are no matches with Livelsberger in the work they did there.
The FBI said on Thursday that there was no connection between the incidents in Las Vegas and New Orleans.
Seven people close by suffered minor injuries when the Tesla exploded. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday afternoon on the social network X that "we have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the trunk of the rented Cybertruck and is not related to the vehicle itself."
Authorities know who rented the vehicle through the Turo app in Colorado, said Las Vegas Police Chief Kevin McMahill on Wednesday. Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar also rented his vehicle on the same app.