FBI says no definitive link between Tesla explosion and New Orleans attack

By Ronda Churchill, David Shepardson and Karen Brettell

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) -The FBI on Thursday said it had so far found no definitive link between the New Year’s Day New Orleans truck attack that killed 15 people and a Tesla (NASDAQ:) Cybertruck that exploded in Las Vegas, which killed the driver who officials have reportedly identified as an active-duty U.S. Army soldier.

The Las Vegas explosion outside of the Trump International Hotel left the sole occupant of the truck dead and seven people with minor injuries, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement.

Law enforcement officials identified the man inside the Tesla Cybertruck as Matthew Livelsberger, an active-duty U.S. Army soldier, the Associated Press and other media reported Thursday.

The FBI has identified the person driving the Cybertruck but was not ready to release that information, FBI special agent in charge Jeremy Schwartz told reporters on Wednesday. The FBI did not respond to a request for more information on Thursday.

Livelsberger was assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and was on approved leave at the time of his death, a U.S. Army official said. The U.S. Army Special Operations Command would not comment on an ongoing investigation, a spokesperson said.

Livelsberger had been on active duty from January 2006 to March 2011 and later served in the National Guard and Army Reserve before re-entering active duty in December 2012 as a U.S. Army Special Operations Soldier, according to a U.S. Army official.

Livelsberger does not appear to have a criminal record. He has been linked to addresses in Colorado Springs since 2013.

Authorities on Wednesday said that the Tesla Cybertruck was rented out of Colorado. FOX21 in Colorado reported a law enforcement presence at a town home complex in a Colorado Springs neighborhood late Wednesday night.

The FBI’s Denver office on Thursday said that a search of a residential address in Colorado Springs by federal and local authorities is related to the Las Vegas explosion.

Videos taken by witnesses inside and outside the Las Vegas hotel showed the vehicle exploding and flames pouring out of it, as it sat outside the hotel at around 8:40 a.m. local time (1640 GMT) Wednesday.

A Trump spokesman did not return a request for comment Thursday on the Cybertruck incident. Eric Trump praised Las Vegas fire and law enforcement officials on Wednesday for their quick action on the explosion.

‘LOTS OF QUESTIONS’

The Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas is part of the Trump Organization, the company of President-elect Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on Jan. 20. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was a key backer of Trump in his 2024 presidential campaign and is also an adviser to the incoming president.

“Obviously a Cybertruck, the Trump hotel – there’s lots of questions that we have to answer,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference.

Police said the truck arrived in Las Vegas at around 7:30 a.m. and drove through the city’s hotel- and casino-lined Strip until it reached the Trump hotel, where it stopped in the valet area. The Trump hotel was evacuated after the explosion and most of its visitors were moved to another hotel.

“Detectives found gasoline canisters and large firework mortars in the bed of the truck,” a police statement said.

Schwartz, the FBI special agent in charge, said it was not yet clear whether the blast was an act of terrorism.

Musk, in a post on X, said, “We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself.”

Both the Cybertruck and the vehicle used in the New Orleans attack had been rented through car-sharing service Turo, McMahill said.

A Turo spokesperson said the company did not believe either of the renters of the vehicles involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat.