Las Vegas police on Thursday shared a photo of investigators going over the Cybertruck. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill noted a number of similarities between Matthew Livelsberger, the Army special forces officer believed to have blown up a Cybertruck in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day, and Shamsud-Din Jabbar, identified by authorities as the man who mowed down revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans the same day, killing at least 15 and injuring dozens more.
But so far, law enforcement has found no evidence of a link between the two events.
Police found Livelsberger’s military identification, phone, and credit cards in the truck, but his identity has not been clinically confirmed.
“I know what’s going on in the social media world, and there are a number of things in this case that are similar to the attack in New Orleans,” McMahill said during a news conference Thursday.
Both subjects served at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, he said.
“What we do know about that is it’s a very large military base, and we have no record that they served in the same unit, or even at the same years at Fort Bragg, something that continues to remain under investigation.”
Both served in Afghanistan in 2009, McMahill said, adding whether they were in the same location or unit is under investigation.
The two men also rented the vehicles used in the events from the same on-line source.
The “very strange similarities” could be coincidental, McMahill said, but added “we’re not prepared to rule in or rule out anything,” noting the investigation is in an early stage. “We haven’t even gotten into the phones or the computers, which are usually very, very instructive and informative to us as we investigate,”
In recorded videos, the perpetrator of the New Orleans event professed allegiance to ISIS, according to law enforcement, and the terrorist group’s flag was secured to the truck used in the attack.
Police found two badly burned semi-automatic weapons in the Tesla, along with a cache of explosives. They say Livelsberger shot himself in the head before the explosion.
“The level of sophistication is not what we would expect from an individual with this type of military experience,” Kenny Cooper of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said when asked about the connective components of the explosives, which damaged the Tesla and caused minor injuries to seven individuals in the area.
With the help of vehicle charging station records, police traced the route of the Tesla, which was rented in Colorado on Dec. 28, to Las Vegas. It was last charged in Kingman, AZ at 5:33 a.m. on Wednesday and spotted in Las Vegas at 7:29 a.m. Video shows the Cybertruck drive through the Trump valet parking area.
“We were able to track him leaving there, and we know that he went to several different places along Las Vegas Boulevard, and he spent some time in a parking lot of a business near Flamingo and Las Vegas Boulevard.”
The Tesla returned to the Trump property at about 8:40 and exploded 17 seconds later.
Tesla founder Elon Musk is sending specialists to Las Vegas Thursday to attempt to retrieve video captured by the truck, McMahill said.
Law enforcement is “running down investigative leads around the world” to determine a motive,” Spencer Evans, Special Agent in Charge of the Las Vegas FBI, told reporters. He asked that anyone with information contact law enforcement. “Obviously, we’re always concerned in these sorts of events to ascertain what the motive is.”
Relatives and associates of Livelberger’s contacted by the Current did not respond to requests for comments.
This article was first published by the Nevada Current, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com.