The man behind the wheel of a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded on Wednesday in front of a Las Vegas hotel with Donald Trump’s name on it was an active-duty member of the U.S. Army Special Forces.
Matthew Livelsberger, 37, rented the vehicle from the car-leasing service Turo, which was also used by the man responsible for the deadly truck attack in New Orleans, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, himself a U.S. Army veteran.
Both men served time at Fort Liberty, the former Fort Bragg, in Cumberland County, North Carolina, though it doesn’t appear that their time at the sprawling military base, the base of operations for more than 50,000 military and 10,000 civilian personnel, ever overlapped, and at this time, there are no known links between the two men.
Livelsberger, a Green Beret with numerous combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, died in the blast in Las Vegas, and seven people were injured.
The vehicle had been loaded with gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters, and large firework mortars in the back of the vehicle.
The New Orleans attack killed 15 people, including Jabbar, who was shot by police after crashing his rented truck on a crowded French Quarter street, then emerging from the vehicle with a rifle and firing rounds at people at the scene.
Share
Chris Graham
