A Green Beret who drove an explosives-laden Tesla Cybertruck to Las Vegas and detonated its payload at Trump International Hotel left a suicide note saying the spectacle was intended as a “wake up call” for America and was not intended as an act of terrorism, according to authorities.
“This was not a terrorist attack,” wrote Matthew Livelsberger, who police say fatally shot himself before Wednesday’s explosion. “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?”
At a Friday news conference in Las Vegas, local and federal law enforcement officials released portions of a note and letters that suggested the Army master sergeant and Afghanistan war veteran was partly motivated by his experiences in combat, as well as his view of political events unfolding in the United States.
“Why did I personally do it it now? I needed to cleanse my mind of the brothers I’ve lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took,” the 37-year-old wrote.
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Authorities have not released the soldier’s complete writings recovered on a cellphone found inside the destroyed vehicle.
“These are just excerpts,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said.
“He does offer additional information that is varying on the spectrum in terms of political grievances, issues about conflicts elsewhere — not here — domestic issues, societal issues … including personal challenges as well,” Koren said.
The New Year’s Day blast came hours after a terrorist attack in New Orleans, where an Army veteran drove another truck through a crowded street, killing 14 and injuring about 30 others.
Given that both attacks appeared to be ideologically motivated, authorities wondered initially whether the two events might be connected. Investigators have since determined that the New Orleans attacker acted alone.
“Just to be clear, there is no evidence that these two events are connected,” said Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas division. “The only things we have connecting them are incidental, what we believe to be coincidental, similarities.”
Those coincidences included the fact that both men rented vehicles through the Turo car-sharing app, served in the Army and stayed at Airbnb rentals.
“We have identified no telephonic or email communication between the subjects, no information that suggests they knew each other, that they ever served in the same unit, that they were ever assigned at the same place at the same time and had interaction,” Evans said.
Among other writing excerpts released Friday were passages in which Livelsberger expressed frustration with the nation’s direction.
“Fellow servicemembers, veterans and all Americans. TIME TO WAKE UP! We are being led by weak and feckless leadership who only serve to enrich themselves.”
He also wrote that that the United States was the best country “to ever exist! But right now we are terminally ill and headed toward collapse.”
Livelsberger served as a Green Beret master sergeant in the Army. He spent the majority of his time at Ft. Carson in Colorado and in Germany, according to authorities. He was on approved leave from Germany at the time of his death.
On his Facebook profile, Livelsberger once criticized the withdrawal of U.S. armed forces from Afghanistan in 2021. He called it the “biggest foreign-policy failure in the history of the United States.”
At Friday’s news conference, authorities stressed that their investigation into Livelsberger is continuing, and that their view of the incident could change, as they still had more of the dead man’s writings to examine, as well as other information.
“We have terrabytes of data that we have to analyze,” Evans said.
However, after conducting numerous interviews with family members, friends and military colleagues, investigators have concluded that Livelsberger held no animosity toward Trump.
“Although this incident is more public and more sensational than usual, it ultimately appears to be a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily decorated combat veteran who is struggling with PTSD and other issues,” Evans said.
Times staff writers Summer Lin, Hannah Fry, Richard Winton and Terry Castleman contributed to this report.
