Cybertruck Explodes Outside Las Vegas Hotel: Driver Dead, 7 Injured
On January 1, 2025, at about 8:40 a.m. Pacific time, a Tesla Cybertruck caught fire and exploded in the valet area of a hotel in the 2000 block of Fashion Show Drive in Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada — the Trump International Hotel — and the vehicle burned. The sole occupant of the vehicle died, seven people suffered minor injuries, and the hotel was evacuated as a precaution.
The Clark County coroner formally identified the driver as Matthew Livelsberger, 37, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and determined that the cause of death was a gunshot wound inside the mouth, a suicide.
Investigators found his government identification and passport in the vehicle, along with two firearms, fireworks, a gasoline can and other items.
Livelsberger was an active-duty U.S. Army Green Beret special forces soldier assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group, serving in Germany and on approved leave.
He had rented the vehicle in Denver, Colorado, on December 28, 2024, and police traced his itinerary through Tesla charging station records: Monument on December 30; Trinidad, Las Vegas in New Mexico, Albuquerque and Gallup on December 31; and Holbrook, Flagstaff and Kingman on January 1.
At about 7:35 a.m. on January 1, the vehicle drove into the hotel valet area and then left, staying for nearly 45 minutes in a business parking lot near Flamingo Road and Las Vegas Boulevard. At 8:39 a.m. it returned to the valet area, and 17 seconds later it exploded.
The case was under an ongoing joint investigation by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and federal partners, and the motive was unclear at the time.
Another attack took place the same day in New Orleans. Investigators have not announced that the two cases are connected.
Related: Pickup Rams Into Crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Killing 14: FBI Investigating as Terrorism
(Source: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
Source: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于内华达州拉斯维加斯的特朗普国际酒店大楼。（Steve Jurvetson 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons） / Photo: Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
