Vegas Cybertruck explosion 'a tragic case of suicide' by veteran with PTSD, officials say
The Green Beret who died by suicide moments before a Tesla Cybertruck exploded on New Year's Day in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, investigators said at a news conference Friday afternoon.
Matthew Livelsberger, an active-duty Green Beret with nearly 20 years of service in the U.S. Army, left behind a trove of digital information that investigators continue to comb through, said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill.
Among the evidence were entries on a note-keeping application on Livelsberger's phone in which he said the incident "was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake-up call," according to Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren.
Koren said the explosion was "nothing more than a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily decorated veteran who was suffering from PSTD," and reiterated that authorities have no reason to believe it was connected in any way to an attack early on New Year's Day in New Orleans' Bourbon Street.
"Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence," Livelsberger wrote, according to screenshots provided by investigators. "What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives?"
Livelsberger was suicidal and dealing with PTSD and undisclosed personal issues, according to Koren, McMahill and Spencer Evans of the FBI,
"Why did I personally do it now?" Livelsberger wrote, according to information provided at the news conference. "I needed to cleanse my mind of the brothers I've lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took." He said the U.S. is "terminally ill and headed toward collapse."
Livelsberger had numerous combat deployments during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to reports.
McMahill said authorities did not see any evidence that Livelsberger had any animosity toward President-elect Donald Trump and said investigators believe he'd considered other locations, including the Grand Canyon. He did not believe the incident was politically motivated, he added, and investigators believe he acted alone.