A decorated Army veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder called U.S. government leadership “weak” and appeared to acknowledge he purposely blew up a Tesla Cybertruck at the entrance of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day, police said Friday.
Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said investigators were able to access one of two phones found in the Cybertruck and viewed writing in an app that seemed to serve as a journal, documenting some of Matthew Alan Livelsberger’s movements and state of mind from Dec. 21 to New Year’s Eve.
Two letters in the phone app suggest a possible motive in the blast, Koren said. In one letter, he tells “fellow service members, veterans and all Americans” it’s time to “wake up” because the country’s leadership is “weak” and “only serves to enrich themselves.”
A second letter appeared to shed more light on Livelsberger’s thinking.
“We are the United States of America, the best country … to ever exist, but right now, we are terminally ill and headed towards collapse,” a second letter said. “This was not a terrorist attack. 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. … I need to cleanse my mind of the brothers I’ve lost, and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took.”
Spencer Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas division, added that the investigation along with a consultation with the Army determined that Livelsberger likely had post-traumatic stress disorder, and that investigators are aware that there were potential “family issues or personal grievances in his own life that may have been contributing factors.”
Livelsberger expressed other grievances, including about conflicts elsewhere in the world, and domestic and societal issues, Koren said. He cautioned that investigators continue to go through evidence found on the cellphone, and Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said investigators have been unable to access a second phone found in the Cybertruck.
Evans said authorities have not established any firm connections between the Cybertruck explosion and the alleged terrorist attack that occurred in New Orleans hours earlier that killed 14 people on Bourbon Street.
The only links investigators have established appeared incidental and coincidental, including that both suspects rented their vehicles from the same company.
Livelsberger also held no animosity toward President-elect Donald Trump, Evans said.
Livelsberger was definitively identified on Thursday as the suspect behind the blast, Las Vegas police said. The Clark County coroner determined that he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Authorities said they were able to identify Livelsberger’s badly burned body through various means, including family DNA and tattoos.
Livelsberger, 37, was on approved leave from the military when he rented a Tesla Cybertruck and drove from Colorado to Las Vegas, according to law enforcement officials. Fireworks and gas in the bed of that truck would later ignite after he parked it just outside of the Trump hotel’s entrance.
People who served with Liverlsberger throughout his nearly two decades in uniform described him as a dedicated, patriotic soldier and good teammate. Two soldiers who served with him in recent years both expressed surprise at his actions, one saying that he was “not a violent person.”
One soldier who served with Livelsberger said he frequently expressed his political views on social media, describing most of the posts as “patriotic” and very pro-military, but adding that it caused a rift with some fellow soldiers over their political differences.
“He posted a lot of political messages on social media that made some of us uncomfortable,” the person said. The soldiers asked their names be withheld because they’re not authorized to speak publicly about service members.
Alicia Arritt, a former girlfriend of Livelsberger’s, told NBC News she dated him on and off for about three years. She said he was a proud soldier who also battled chronic pain, which she said he hid from his superiors.
She said he was not overtly political when she knew him, and that she had lost touch with him in recent years before suddenly receiving text messages from him in recent days. The messages included that he had rented a Cybertruck, but did not hint at what he was about to do.
Livelsberger’s uncle Dean Livelsberger also told The Independent that Livelsberger was a very patriotic American who was an avid supporter of Trump’s. He did not immediately respond to an NBC News interview request.
NBC News reviewed social media profiles that appear to have belonged to Livelsberger that show a well-traveled man who recently had a child. Army officials said he first entered active duty in 2006, served in the National Guard and the Army Reserve, and re-entered the active-duty Army in December 2012 and was a U.S. Army special operations soldier.
Online, Livelsberger documented trips to Thailand and Italy on Tripadvisor, and contributed photos to Google Maps that included food at a bar bistro in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and a church in France, as well as warning of a scam at a club in the country of Georgia. He also posted about attractions in Colorado, where he lived.
Beyond that, Livelsberger had a relatively limited online presence that included a LinkedIn page and a Facebook profile.
In his military career, Livelsberger deployed to the Republic of the Congo in 2014, Ukraine in 2016, Tajikistan in 2016 and Afghanistan in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Public records show that Livelsberger was married in 2012 and later divorced in 2018. Records also list a marriage application filed in 2022. Also in 2022, a woman Livelsberger was apparently in a relationship with posted pictures online that showed her wearing a wedding ring.
On Facebook in September, Livelsberger posted a photo showing him and his partner cradling a newborn, and then posted a photo of himself holding the child while standing in front of a body of water. His right arm was covered in tattoos — tattoos that law enforcement would later use to help identify his body after the Cybertruck explosion — that showed a recent addition to his tattoo sleeve near his right elbow: a triple-crescent symbol of three interlocking moons.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
