2025 Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion

At approximately 7:30 a.m. PST, the truck arrived in Las Vegas. 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. At 8:39 a.m., the driver parked the truck in the porte cochère of Trump International Hotel Las Vegas where it exploded and caught fire. The first reports of a fire were received two minutes later. First responders arrived within four minutes and extinguished the fire within an hour. The vehicle had been functioning properly, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The explosion caused limited damage to the vehicle and did not break the glass doors of the hotel's lobby entrance. The hotel was evacuated, with most of the guests moved to different locations. ==Victims==

Seven bystanders suffered minor injuries. Two of them were taken to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada. All seven people were reported to be in stable condition. ==Perpetrator==

While sitting in the driver seat of the vehicle, the only occupant fatally shot himself in the head before the explosion. The gun was recovered near his feet after the blast. He was identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as Matthew Alan Livelsberger (July 22, 1987 – January 1, 2025), 37, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, an active-duty United States Army Special Forces soldier since January 2006 who was on approved leave. Although his body was "burned beyond recognition", authorities suspected his identity before confirmations from medical records. His vehicle also contained a rifle along with two pistols. Background Livelsberger was born in Arizona, raised in Bucyrus, Ohio, and was a student at Bucyrus High School until 2005. He had ties to several other Ohio towns, including Ontario, Westerville, and Cuyahoga Falls. 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. Livelsberger had been heralded in January 2010 for collecting donations for children in Afghanistan in May 2009, and was later awarded two Bronze Stars, including one with a valor device for courage under fire, a Combat Infantryman Badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valor. An ex-girlfriend who was a nurse who served military veterans and dated Livelsberger 'on and off from 2018 to 2021' said that he identified as "politically moderate" but leaning conservative, "incredibly intelligent," and "never mean." She also stated that they broke up because he was not interested in being a stepfather and wanted to continue committing to his career. His military tour in the Middle East resulted in his untreated symptoms of depression that by 2019 led to behavioral changes including isolation; he did not seek treatment due to stigma against Special Forces soldiers seeking such. He was raising an 8-month old daughter and, according to his father, seemed normal when they last spoke on Christmas Day. He was previously placed in a new assignment involving drones that his friends said excited him. He was last posted in Germany to work as a systems manager for the US Army but was on leave in Colorado; according to his second wife, he had disappeared for several days before his death. Several addresses in the Colorado Springs area were associated with Livelsberger's name. He and his wife broke up just six days before the truck explosion due to an argument regarding adultery. 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. ==Manifesto==

Livelsberger authored a manifesto sent via email to Samuel Shoemate, a retired Army intelligence officer. The manifesto, which officials believe to be authentic, contained claims of clandestine operations, war crimes, and advanced military technologies. In the manifesto, Livelsberger said that he was under surveillance by intelligence agencies due to his knowledge of war crimes and classified details about an advanced U.S. drone program. 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. Livelsberger instructed Shoemate to release the email after January 1, 2025, and requested anonymity until that date. Additionally, a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official was named in the manifesto as being involved in the war crimes cover-up, but the name was redacted due to their active duty status. Shoemate said that Livelsberger's Signal safety number changed posthumously, raising concerns that someone had gained access to his account following his apparent death. Gravitic propulsion systems The manifesto alleged that "gravitic propulsion systems" were operationally deployed by both the United States and China. 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. 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. The UN stressed that these facilities should be considered civilian targets under international humanitarian law, in contrast to long-standing US policy that treats such facilities as legitimate military targets. The report made a number of recommendations, including that illicit drug activity be addressed through law enforcement rather than military operations. Manifesto classified by Department of Defense The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department confirmed that on January 9, 2025, the United States Department of Defense took command of the investigation and declared the manifesto classified, which was reported by KVVU-TV. ==Investigation==

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began investigating the explosion the same day. President Joe Biden was briefed on the event. Investigators initially explored any possible connection with the New Orleans truck attack that occurred hours earlier and in which the same car-sharing application was used, though the FBI later reported that there was no definitive link between the two attacks. Tesla independently investigated the incident. 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. Similarly, an anonymous close relative of Matthew Livelsberger identified him as always having wanted to be an "Army soldier, in Special Forces, even as a little kid. And when he achieved that, he was a soldier's soldier." Spencer L. Evans, the FBI agent in charge of the investigation, said that it appeared Livelsberger suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with family or personal issues having potentially contributed to his actions. The investigation 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. Fran Racioppi, a podcaster and former Special Forces officer, suggested that it could have been a "botched" act of terrorism but also highlighted the event as part of a broader trend of mental health problems that Special Forces veterans experience due to their high risk of traumatic brain injuries. He criticized both increased income inequality (specifically from the "top 1%") and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. He expressed his fears with the United States' rival nations like Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran and recommended that the nation embrace strength and masculinity and end the Russo-Ukrainian War by "negotiated settlement". 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''." He argued that people should unite around Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to promote national hegemony. After-Action report by LVMPD The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department released a report on the explosion and its investigation in November 2025. Federal control of investigation The US Government and DOD took command of the investigation from Las Vegas police in January, 2025. ==See also==