On January 1, 2025, at approximately 8:39 a.m. (PST), the contents of a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the main entrance of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada, United States.
The vehicle's sole occupant died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head immediately prior to the explosion and seven bystanders were injured by the blast.
[3] Livelsberger also sent an email manifesto stating he was under surveillance due to his knowledge of advanced military technologies and covert operations, including an alleged cover-up of war crimes.
[4] The manifesto narrative, which detailed plans to escape across the Mexico border, showed no suicidal intent and conflicts with the two digital letters apparently authored earlier that month.
The truck had been rented in Colorado using Turo, a peer-to-peer carsharing service, and authorities suspect it had been fitted with a detonation system composed of fireworks, gas tanks, and camping fuel.
[21][22] He was in the Army for 19 years, deploying to several countries, including Afghanistan, Ukraine, the Republic of the Congo, Tajikistan, and Georgia, receiving several commendations for his service.
[32] The ex-girlfriend described text messages that he had sent her in the days just before the incident, praising his rented truck and expressing his enthusiasm about building drones in his new military assignment.
He stated that he planned to escape across the Mexico border but feared U.S. intelligence agents would stop him, noting he was armed and in possession of a vehicle-borne IED (VBIED, or car bomb) and expressed no suicidal intent.
[35][36][37][38] Shoemate said that Livelsberger's Signal safety number changed posthumously, raising concerns that someone had gained access to his account following his apparent death.
Livelsberger claimed Chinese submarines launched unmanned aircraft along the Atlantic coast as part of a broader intelligence and surveillance strategy, in reference to the 2024 United States drone sightings.
[39] He further warned that such technologies, with their stealth and unlimited payload capacity, represented an unparalleled threat to national security, potentially enabling attacks on critical infrastructure like the White House.
[35][36] In addition, Livelsberger accused U.S. government agencies, including the CIA, DEA, and Department of Defense, of covering up war crimes during airstrikes in Nimruz Province, Afghanistan, in 2019.
[45][48] Investigators initially kept in mind the fact that Livelsberger used a Tesla vehicle to attack a Trump building but sought to avoid immediately synthesizing political motives.
[15] Livelsberger's uncle told The Independent that he thought the truck had exploded due to a mechanical fault, and was therefore surprised when contacted and informed of his nephew's involvement.
They additionally determined that he detonated "a combination of fireworks, gas tanks and camping fuel in the bed of the vehicle" using a device and kept track of the items that he purchased in a 10-day journal log from December 21 to 31, 2024.
[19] Livelsberger confided to his ex-girlfriend that he had suffered a traumatic brain injury during his deployment, leading to memory issues, difficulty concentrating, strained relationships, and guilt over his battlefield actions.
She recognized these as symptoms of head or body trauma, which can lead to mental health deterioration and noted that similar injuries had tragically resulted in suicide for several veterans she knew.
In his second, he denied the bombing being a "terrorist attack" but instead a "wake up call" towards a collapsing United States, that he felt that a "stunt with fireworks and explosives" was the best way to do so since Americans "only pay attention to spectacles and violence."
He additionally criticized Kamala Harris as a "DEI candidate", expressing pleasure that the United States elected "a real president instead of Weekend at Bernie's."