DENVER — The Colorado Springs resident suspected of detonating a Tesla Cybertruck in front of a Las Vegas hotel and the Texas man accused of driving a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans served at the same military base, sources told Denver7 Investigates.
Authorities were investigating the link as a possible connection between the two New Year’s Day attacks, those sources said.
Matthew Livelsberger is accused of renting a Cybertruck in Colorado Springs, driving it to Nevada and packing it with firework mortars and gas cans before exploding it in front of the Trump International Hotel in Vegas Wednesday morning, killing himself and injuring seven others. Shamsud-Din Jabbar is suspected of plowing through a crowd of New Year’s revelers in the French Quarter hours earlier, killing at least 15 and injuring dozens more in an attack that sent shockwaves through a famous New Year’s destination the morning of a scheduled College Football Playoff game.
Both men were confirmed to be Army veterans in the aftermath of the attacks – both of which were being investigated as possible acts of terrorism. Late Wednesday, multiple informed sources told Denver7 Chief Investigator Tony Kovaleski of the link between the two suspects’ military service.
Both men used vehicles rented from the Turo car rental marketplace in their respective attacks. In a statement, a Turo spokesperson said the company did not believe either suspect “had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat.”
Jabbar enlisted in the Army in March 2007, working in both human resources and information technology. He deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010, then transferred into the U.S. Army Reserve in 2015, the service said in a statement reported by the Associated Press. He served until July 2020 and left the military with the rank of staff sergeant.
Authorities do not believe Jabbar, who was killed by officers, acted alone in the truck rampage.
Denver7 is working to learn more about Livelsberger’s background. Federal agents were staking out one of multiple Colorado Springs addresses associated with him late Wednesday awaiting a search warrant.
The summary of Jabbar’s military service is courtesy of The Associated Press.
This is a developing news story and will be updated as we learn more.
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