Man who died in Tesla Cybertruck explosion believed to be a US veteran

Australian Community Media

LA police have named the man they believe died in the Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International Hotel but DNA evidence is still pending. Video by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via Storyful

Transcript

00:00As you look at this Cybertruck here, we had to transport this down to our fleet services

00:05so that we could really get through this thing.

00:08And I remind you that the subject inside wasn't able to be removed for a very long period

00:12of time because he was burnt beyond recognition.

00:15And so as we continue to move through this, I'm going to talk a little bit about his identity

00:21and what we believe, but I would like to highlight a couple of things that the teams found inside

00:26of the Cybertruck that are useful to the investigation.

00:28And that first and foremost is a military identification.

00:33We also found a passport.

00:36We found a Desert Eagle 50 caliber semi-automatic pistol.

00:41And if you'll notice on a lot of these guns that we're going to talk about here, they're

00:45almost just burnt beyond recognition as well.

00:49There's an SLR model B30 semi-automatic firearm, a number of fireworks that were still in the

00:56vehicle that had to be removed.

00:58Notably, we found an iPhone and a smartwatch, and then several credit cards were also in

01:05the name of our subject.

01:08Our subject is 37 year old Matthew Livelsberger.

01:14He's of Colorado Springs, Colorado, born July 22nd of 1987.

01:21Now, as you'll see here on a picture of his driver's license, let's see.

01:27The question really still remains for me, and I know that there's a lot of you folks

01:32in the media that are identifying this person as the person in our vehicle.

01:36As I mentioned to you already, his body is burnt beyond recognition, and I do still not

01:42have confirmation 100% that that is the individual that was inside of our vehicle.

01:49As I'm calling it now, the subject or person of interest, I will not come back until I

01:55have the confirmation through DNA or medical records that this is indeed in fact the subject

02:01inside of the vehicle.

02:03Now, further complicating this identification of this individual, we also discovered through

02:09the coroner's office that the individual had sustained a gunshot wound to the head

02:16prior to the detonation of the vehicle.

02:20One of the handguns was found at his feet inside of the vehicle.

02:26Obviously, in how we're trying to identify him, and I'm feeling comfortable to give you

02:31this information, there's a tremendous amount of substantial evidence to include he rented

02:37the Turo vehicle.

02:40There are two tattoos, one of which was on the stomach and one of which is on the arm,

02:45so that we can see bits and pieces of it as in comparison to what it is that we now

02:49know he had on his body that has given us a lot of confidence that this is in fact the

02:56same person.

02:57As well as what's clearly obvious, which is the credit cards, the military identification,

03:03the passport, and then furthermore, as you'll see here in just a very short period of time,

03:09we tracked his movements from Colorado to Las Vegas, and in a number of the photographs

03:15that we were able to determine, he was the individual that was driving the vehicle.

03:19And also, I'd like to iterate this point to you, we still have only ever seen him in this

03:26vehicle and we're not aware of any other subjects involved in this particular case.

03:32Now, I would like to acknowledge a couple of things because I know what's going on in

03:38the social media world and there are a number of things in this case that are similar to

03:42the attack in New Orleans.

03:45We do know that our subject here served in the military, in fact, he's a current member

03:50of the military.

03:52Both of the subjects served at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

03:56What we do know about that is it's a very large military base and we have no record

04:01that they served in the same unit or even at the same years at Fort Bragg, something

04:05that continues to remain under investigation.

04:08I also know that they both served in Afghanistan in 2009.

04:14We don't have any evidence that they were in the same province in Afghanistan, the same

04:18location, or the same unit, again, something else that remains under investigation.

04:25And we also know, of course, that they both used the rental company Turo to rent their

04:29vehicles.

04:31As far as his military background, it's been confirmed by DOD that he was indeed in the

04:37United States Army.

04:38He was also a Green Beret operations sergeant who spent most of his time at Fort Carson,

04:44Colorado, and in Germany.

04:46He was on approved leave from Germany where he was serving with the 10th Special Forces

04:51Group.

04:52He was also previously in the National Guard and the Army Reserve.

04:57Like to point out to you that through exceptional joint investigative effort, we've gotten to

05:04a place where we believe we can show you his route to Las Vegas from Colorado, and Carlos

05:10will put up the map there for you.

05:12We know that he rented the Cybertruck in Denver on December 28th.

05:17We tracked his movements through the Tesla charging stations to Monument, Colorado on

05:22December 30th.

05:24On the 31st of December, the truck was charged in Trinidad, Colorado, Las Vegas, New Mexico,

05:32and Albuquerque and Gallup, New Mexico.

05:36On January 1st, the truck was charged in Holbrook, Flagstaff, and Kingman, Arizona.

05:45We last tracked the truck in Kingman at 0533 yesterday morning.

05:53The truck was first spotted in Las Vegas at 0729 a.m. yesterday, and Carlos will pull

06:00up a picture of the truck pulling onto Fashion Show Drive here.

06:06And that picture was observed at about 0734 a.m.

06:12We know that he pulled into the Trump Valet, and I believe we have a video of that.

06:19You can see the Cybertruck highlighted there.

06:38So, through extensive surveillance video, we were able to track him leaving there, and

06:42we know that he went to several different places along Las Vegas Boulevard, and he

06:48spent some time in a parking lot of a business near Flamingo and Las Vegas Boulevard.

06:53We then have a video of the truck pulling back onto Las Vegas Boulevard from the Sands.

07:06See that there?

07:09That's north on the Boulevard from Sands at 0839, where he then immediately heads to

07:15the Trump Hotel, pulls into the Valet area, and as of course you all know, the explosion

07:20occurs within 17 seconds of his arrival at the Valet.

Category

Transcript

Recommended