The Metropolitan Las Vegas Police Department and the FBI spent the night investigating Wednesday’s explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel.
• Also read: Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas and attack in New Orleans: similarities between the two suspects?
• Also read: [VIDÉO] One dead, seven injured in Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas
At a press briefing on Thursday afternoon, the authorities held a press briefing to take stock of the information and evidence collected in connection with the event which left one dead and seven injured.
Here’s what authorities have learned, so far, in their investigation.
What they found in the vehicle
In addition to the body of an individual who was impossible to identify due to his burns, authorities discovered several objects damaged by the flames.
In particular, they found a military ID and a passport in the name of Matthew Alan Livelsberger, the main suspect in this attack.
An iPhone, a smart watch and several credit cards in the suspect’s name were also discovered.
They also found a .50-caliber Desert Eagle semi-automatic pistol and several other weapons destroyed by the fire.
Head injury
The coroner said the person found burned in the vehicle had suffered a gunshot wound to the head before the detonation.
A weapon was also found at the individual’s feet, according to Metropolitan Las Vegas Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill.
However, the authorities are refusing, for the moment, to confirm the identity of the person who was on board the Cybertruck.
The sheriff indicated at a press briefing that he is awaiting DNA test results to be able to confirm that the person in the vehicle is indeed the suspect Matthew Alan Livelsberger.
From Colorado to Las Vegas
Police authorities were also able to trace the suspect’s route through his stops to recharge the Tesla electric truck.
After renting the Cybertruck on the Turo platform on December 28, he headed to Las Vegas.
On January 1, he loaded his car in three Arizona towns: Holbrook, Flagstaff and Kingman.
He was then spotted around 7:29 a.m. Wednesday morning in Las Vegas.
On the streets of Las Vegas
Thanks to several surveillance cameras, authorities were able to track the suspect’s movements in the hours before the explosion in front of the Trump hotel.
Shortly after 7:34 a.m., he passed through the hotel’s valet parking lot for the first time without stopping.
He then moved around the city and met several people on Las Vegas Boulevard.
The suspect spent time in a business parking lot near the Flamingo Hotel.
Police also have video of the truck which, around 8:39 a.m., made a right turn from Sands Avenue to return to Las Vegas Boulevard.
He then immediately headed towards the Trump hotel where he parked in front of the entrance. The explosion occurred 17 seconds after the vehicle arrived at the valet parking lot.
The motives still unknown
The FBI said during the press briefing that the motivations behind the gesture remain “unknown.”
“The suspect’s motives remain unknown at this stage. (…) We do not have information that allows us to say with certainty or to suggest that this was motivated by a particular ideology,” declared Spencer Evans, special agent of the FBI.
Who is the suspect?
Matthew Alan Livelsberger is a member of the US Army Special Forces, who was on “approved leave at the time of his death,” a Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement.
According to this spokesperson, Livelsberger joined in 2006 and served in the army until 2011, before joining the National Guard then the reserve army, and finally joining the special forces in 2012.
Images posted on social networks on Wednesday showed a gray Cybertruck electric vehicle, parked in front of the entrance to the hotel where the name “Trump” is displayed in large format, explode in a huge cloud of smoke.
Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, is an ally of President-elect Donald Trump, who has charged him with an extragovernmental mission of deregulation and reduction of public spending in his future government.
The explosion came hours after a car-ramming attack in New Orleans, in which 14 people were killed and around 30 injured.
The FBI said Thursday that there was no “irrefutable link” between the two events.
Sheriff McMahill said Wednesday that the rear of the Tesla vehicle contained cans of gasoline and “large fireworks mortars.” He estimated that the structure of the Cybertruck had “helped limit the damage”.
– With AFP
