The enigma behind the Tesla Cybertruck explosion near the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day has only intensified, as the latest comprehensive report from local authorities sheds little light on the attacker’s motivations.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) released a detailed 78-page report on Monday, confirming that Matthew Livelsberger, who took his own life before the incident, had penned a manifesto. This document was discovered through forensic analysis of his phone.
According to the report, the Department of War has classified the manifesto, prompting the transfer of the investigation to federal authorities.
Documents reviewed by Fox News Digital reveal that Livelsberger, a Green Beret on leave from his Special Forces unit, had secured a Tesla Cybertruck via the car-sharing service Turo.
On New Year’s Day, Army Special Forces soldier Matthew Livelsberger detonated his vehicle outside the Trump International Hotel.
Equipped with fireworks, gas cans, and camping fuel, he drove the Cybertruck to the hotel around 8:40 a.m. on January 1, 2025, where it exploded, causing property damage and injuring six individuals.
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.
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.
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.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for comment.
