The man killed in the Tesla Cybertruck explosion Wednesday outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas was an active duty Army soldier, the Army said.
Authorities identified the man as Master Sgt. Matthew Alan Livelsberger, who enlisted as a U.S. Army Special Operations soldier. He served in the active duty Army from January 2006 to March 2011. He then joined the National Guard from March 2011 to July 2012, followed by the Army Reserve from July 2012 to December 2012. Livelsberger entered the active duty Army in December 2012 and was a U.S. Army Special Operations Soldier.
U.S. Army Special Operations Command confirmed that Livelsberger was on approved leave at the time of his death.
On Wednesday Las Vegas police said that crews pulled gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars from the back of the Cybertruck. The explosion, which was caught on video, also injured seven people.
Police said the Cybertruck was rented in Colorado. Authorities were able to trace the vehicle through Tesla charging stations to see that it arrived in Las Vegas about an hour before the explosion. Authorities called the incident “isolated.”
Law enforcement and intelligence officials were investigating any potential connection between the explosion and the attack in New Orleans in which a man drove a pickup truck into a crowd of people, killing 15 people and injuring dozens.
Jeremy Schwartz, acting special agent in charge of the FBI in Las Vegas, said the agency was working closely with area law enforcement to learn more about the explosion and who was behind it. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force was working to determine whether the explosion was an act of terrorism.
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