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The mystery surrounding the motive for the Tesla Cybertruck attack outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day only deepened after the final investigative report from local police provided few new details.
The 78-page “after-action” report released Monday by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD), confirmed that Matthew Livelsberger, who died by suicide before the explosion, left a manifesto on his phone, which investigators recovered during forensic analysis.
The Department of War declared the manifesto classified, and the investigation was turned over to the federal government, the report said.
The report, seen by Digital, confirms that the Green Beret was on leave from his Special Forces unit and had rented a Tesla Cybertruck through the car-sharing platform Turo.
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Army Special Forces soldier Matthew Livelsberger detonated his vehicle outside Trump International Hotel on New Year’s Day. (Los Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
He filled it with fireworks, gas cans and camping fuel, and drove it to the Trump International Hotel just after 8:40 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2025. There, the vehicle detonated, causing damage and injuring six people.
LVMPD and federal investigators described the incident as a premeditated vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attack “with the potential to cause mass casualties and extensive structural damage” but did not call it terrorism.
Investigators also reconstructed Livelsberger’s final days using phone data, bank records and surveillance footage.
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Matthew Livelsberger blew up a rented Cybertruck outside the Trump Las Vegas hotel. (Los Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
Surveillance video showed Livelsberger pouring accelerant into the truck bed moments before detonation, an act LVMPD said reflected planning rather than impulse.
Counterterrorism investigators concluded he sought to make “a very big, very public statement,” suggesting the Las Vegas location was chosen for visibility and impact.
He also left behind a note claiming the attack was not terror-related, but a way for the soldier to “cleanse” his mind but criticized the “feckless leadership” of a U.S. that is “near collapse,” officials said.
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Federal investigators described the incident as a premeditated vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attack but did not call it terrorism. (Los Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
“This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake-up call,” Livelsberger wrote in the notes app on his phone.
“Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives,” Livelsberger wrote.
One of his messages was said to have gone to Shawn Ryan, an ex-Navy SEAL and CIA contractor.
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Digital has reached out to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for comment.
