Las Vegas authorities said they still have no clear motive for why an Army soldier drove a Cybertruck in front of the Trump Tower in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day, intending to kill himself and set off an explosion. Law enforcement is still searching for answers, while Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken a central role in the investigation. Musk reportedly sent a team to Las Vegas to assist investigators in extracting data and video from the remains of the Cybertruck.
The Las Vegas sheriff has praised Musk’s assistance, noting that the truck contained “a tremendous number of cameras” and that Musk provided authorities with footage from Tesla’s charging stations.
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The sheriff said the footage is already helping investigators track the movements of Sgt. Matthew Alan Livelsberger, who traveled from Colorado to the Las Vegas Strip over several days.
While Musk is providing evidence to officials in Las Vegas, he is also weighing in on an online debate: Why did the explosion cause minimal damage?
On X, Musk said, “The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards. Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken.”
The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 2, 2025
Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken. https://t.co/9vj1JdcRZV
In another post, Musk boasted about the Cybertruck’s durability, sharing a conservative activist’s comment that called the incident a “Cybertruck ad campaign” and adding, “I’m pretty sure we could get it running again too.”
While some suggest the Cybertruck’s strength contained the explosion, others point to Livelsberger’s extensive military background, claiming he had the expertise to create a more lethal blast.
The Washington Post reports that investigators have primarily found evidence of fireworks and fuel, with a car analyst telling the paper he doesn’t believe Musk’s claims.
“You didn’t really have an explosion as much as you had a bonfire,” Karl Brauer, Iseecars.com executive analyst, told the Post. “I’m not at all convinced that the Cybertruck being so strong is the reason it blew upward.”
Kenneth Cooper, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives San Francisco division, seemed to agree.
“The level of sophistication is not what we would expect from an individual with this type of military experience,” Cooper said.
Fellow Green Berets, including Livelsberger, have a “sophisticated understanding of explosives and how bombs work,” according to group chats reviewed by The New York Times. Some of his comrades speculated that Livelsberger may have struggled with mental illness.
Family members of Livelsberger have suggested he wouldn’t have wanted to cause damage to the Trump Hotel, as he was a staunch Trump supporter, according to sources who spoke to The Independent and The Daily Beast. The New York Post reports that Livelsberger’s wife left him days before the attack.
As investigators work to find concrete answers, speculation continues over the motive behind the New Year’s Day explosion.
