What we know about Cybertruck explosion person of interest Matthew Livelsberger
LAS VEGAS -- The man who rented the Cybertruck that exploded outside of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year's Day has been identified as U.S. Army Master Sgt. Matthew Livelsberger, 37, a Special Operations soldier who was on leave from his base in Germany, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Although investigators are still examining DNA evidence of the person found in the truck, Las Vegas Metro Police Department Sherriff Kevin McMahill told reporters at a news conference that Livelsberger's identification and credit cards were found at the scene. The coroner's office said the person in the truck sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and a handgun was found at his feet.
Seven people suffered minor injuries when the truck, which was filled with fireworks-style mortars and gas canisters, exploded around 8:40 a.m. PT. Investigators believe the explosion was intentional, but hadn't determined a motive, authorities said in the news conference.
As they continue their investigation into the blast, a profile of Livelsberger is emerging from the Army and people who knew him.
Livelsberger's wife told investigators her husband had been out of their Colorado Springs, Colorado, residence since around Christmas after a dispute over allegations of infidelity and said he would not hurt anyone, an official who had been briefed on the investigation told ABC News. Livelsberger allegedly supported President-elect Donald Trump, the official said.
Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Las Vegas division, told reporters it was too early to speculate about any polticial connections behind the attack.
"It's not lost on us that it's in front of the Trump building, that it's a, Tesla vehicle, but we don't have information at this point that definitively tells us or suggest it was because of this particular ideology or any of the reasoning behind it," he said.
Livelsberger enlisted in the Army as a Special Forces candidate and served on active duty from January 2006 to March 2011, then joined the National Guard that month and served until July 2012, followed by a stint in the Army Reserve from July to December 2012, according to the spokesperson. He went back on active duty in December 2012 as a Special Operations soldier, the spokesperson said.
He spent time at Fort Liberty and was also deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, McMahill told reporters.
Livelsberger was a Green Beret operations sergeant who was stationed mostly at Fort Carson, Colorado, near Colorado Springs, and in Germany, according to McMahill.
He was on approved leave from the Army at the time of his death, according to U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
"USASOC is in full cooperation with federal and state law enforcement agencies, but as a matter of policy, will not comment on ongoing investigations," the spokesperson said.
Livelsberger rented the Cybertruck in Denver on Dec. 28 using the car-sharing app Turo, the same app used to rent a truck by the suspect in the New Orleans attack on New Year's Day, though investigators said they have not established any links between the two attacks.
Livelsberger told the truck's owner that he was going camping at the Grand Canyon, the official said.
The subject purchased two semiautomatic firearms legally on Monday, Kenny Cooper, the assistant special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, San Francisco Field Division, told reporters.
Tesla has been cooperating with the probe and provided investigators with data and other information, the company's owner Elon Musk said.
ABC News' Alex Stone contributed to this report.
