Soldier who blew up Tesla at Trump hotel left note saying explosion should be a 'wake-up call' to the US

LAS VEGAS (AP) A highly decorated Army soldier who killed himself in a Tesla Cybertruck just before it exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas left notes saying the New Year's explosion An was a stunt to serve as a wake-up call for the country's ills, investigators said Friday.

Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Green Beret from Colorado Springs, Colo., also wrote in notes he left on his cellphone that he needed to cleanse his mind of the brothers I lost and to relieve the burden of the lives I have taken. Livelsberger has served in the Army since 2006 and was deployed to Afghanistan twice.

It wasn't a terrorist attack, it was a wake-up call. Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my message across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives, Livelsberger wrote in a letter found by authorities and released Friday.

The explosion caused seven minor injuries, but virtually no damage to the Trump International Hotel. Authorities said Livelsberger acted alone.

Livelsberger's letters covered a range of topics, including political grievances, societal issues, and national and international issues, including the war in Ukraine. He said in a letter that the United States was terminally ill and heading toward collapse.

Tesla engineers, meanwhile, helped extract data from the Cybertruck for investigators, including Livelsberger's route from charging stations in Colorado to New Mexico and Arizona to Las Vegas, according to Deputy Sheriff Dori Koren.

We still have a large volume of data to process, Koren said Friday. There are thousands, if not millions, of videos, photos, documents, web histories and all these things that need to be analyzed.

The new details came as investigators were still trying to determine whether Livelsberger was seeking to make a political point with Tesla and the hotel named for the president-elect.

Livelsberger had no ill will toward President-elect Donald Trump, law enforcement said. In one of the notes he left, he said the country needs to rally around Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Musk recently became a member of Trump's inner circle. Neither Trump nor Musk were in Las Vegas on Wednesday, the day of the explosion. Both had attended Trump's New Year's party at his South Florida estate.

Although this incident is more public and sensational than usual, it ultimately appears to be a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily decorated veteran who suffered from PTSD and other issues, Special Agent Spencer Evans. of the FBI in charge in Las Vegas, said Friday.

Livelsberger died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Investigators have not yet explained how Livelsberger committed suicide inside the Cybertruck while simultaneously lighting fireworks and camp fuel packaged inside, causing the explosion.

Among the charred items found inside were a handgun at Livelsberger's feet, another firearm, fireworks, a passport, a military ID, credit cards, an iPhone and a smart watch. Authorities said both guns were purchased legally.

In recent years, Livelsberger told Alicia Arritt, a former girlfriend who had served as an Army nurse, that he suffered from significant pain and exhaustion that she attributed to head trauma.

He opened up to Arritt, 39, whom he met and began dating in Colorado in 2018, about exhaustion, the pain that kept him up at night and the reliving the violence of his deployment to Afghanistan, Arritt said.

My life has been personal hell the last year, he told Arritt in text messages early in their relationship that she shared with The Associated Press.

The Green Berets are highly trained special forces of the United States Army, specializing in guerrilla warfare and unconventional combat tactics. Livelsberger rose through the ranks and deployed twice to Afghanistan and served in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, according to the Army. He recently returned from an overseas assignment in Germany and was on authorized leave when he died.

He received five Bronze Stars, including one with a symbol of valor for courage under fire, a Combat Infantryman Badge and an Army Commendation Medal for Valor.

Authorities searched a townhouse in Livelsberger's hometown of Colorado Springs on Thursday as part of the investigation. Neighbors said the man who lived there had a wife and baby.

The neighbor across the street, Cindy Helwig, said she last saw him when he asked her to borrow a tool to repair an SUV.

He was a normal guy, Helwig said.

The explosion came hours after Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, crashed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans' famous French Quarter early in the New Year, killing at least 14 people before being shot dead by police. The FBI says it believes Jabbar acted alone and is being investigated as a terrorist attack.

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Copp, Richer and Long reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Ken Ritter and Ty ONeil in Las Vegas contributed; Colleen Slevin in Colorado Springs, Colo.; Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles.

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