Authorities are investigating tesla cybertruck explosion A report outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day said Thursday there was evidence that the driver shot himself in the head before the explosion.
Police also identified Matthew Alan Libersberger, 37, an active-duty Army Special Forces member, as the driver of the Cybertruck. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced that the county coroner ruled the death a suicide.
Cybertruck is rented in denver Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a news conference early Thursday, Libersberger said.
Spencer Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas office, said at a news conference that authorities are not pursuing any additional individuals of interest.
Libersberger was the only occupant of the car when it burst into flames. The deputy is also the only person known to police to have been inside the 2024 Cybertruck after renting it, the sheriff said. Due to the condition of the body, law enforcement was unable to make a final identification until dental records and DNA test results were received.
“His body was burned beyond recognition,” McMahill said. Investigators said they found Libersberger’s military ID, passport, credit cards and several firearms inside the car.
Alcides Antunes, via Reuters
“To further complicate the identification of this individual, we also learned through the coroner’s office that the individual had sustained a gunshot wound to the head prior to the vehicle explosion,” the sheriff continued. McMahill said one of the guns found in the car after the explosion was found at the driver’s feet.
Law enforcement officials say the explosion early Wednesday morning is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism, but investigators do not believe there is a lingering threat to the community, FBI Agent Jeremy Schwartz said. said at a press conference Wednesday night.
Seven other people sustained minor injuries in the explosion.
Law enforcement officials said Libersberger was stationed in Germany but was vacationing in Colorado at the time of the explosion. Two of Libersberger’s relatives told CBS News they did not know he was involved in the incident, but admitted he had rented the Cybertruck. One relative said he had not heard from his wife for several days.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
Federal agents investigating the explosion have been at Libersberger’s townhome in Colorado Springs since Wednesday night, according to CBS Colorado. No one was evacuated during the investigation there.
McMahill said the Cybertruck was rented in Colorado. Investigators were able to trace the vehicle’s route from Denver to Las Vegas based on stops at charging stations, and surveillance video showed the vehicle driving down the Las Vegas Strip moments before the explosion.
The Cybertruck stopped at the glass entrance of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas just after 7:30 a.m. and exploded about 15 seconds later.
Sheriff’s officials told reporters that gasoline cans, camping fuel cans and a large fireworks mortar were found in the back of the truck, but it was unclear exactly how the explosives were ignited. .
McMahill called the explosion an “isolated incident” and said there was no indication it was linked to ISIS. The explosion occurred hours after the man deliberately committed the crime. He drove a pickup truck with a black ISIS flag. He was shot dead by police after plunging into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 14 people.
The Las Vegas sheriff acknowledged Thursday that there are some similarities between the cases and the subjects, but reiterated that the two cases are unrelated. The drivers in both the Cybertruck explosion and the New Orleans assault used the company to rent their respective vehicles. Turoand both were members of the U.S. military. Each served in Afghanistan in 2009 and was at one point stationed at military base Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Although authorities are still investigating, McMahill said there is no evidence the men served in the same unit or location in Afghanistan or at Fort Bragg in the same year. .
Alex Sandby, Eleanor Watson, James Laporta,
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contributed to this report.
