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The mystery surrounding the motive for the Tesla Cybertruck attack outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day deepened after some new details were revealed in the final investigative report by local police.
A 78-page “after-action” report released Monday by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) confirmed that Matthew Livelsberger, who died by suicide before the explosion, had left a manifesto on his phone, which investigators recovered during forensic analysis.
The War Department declared the manifesto classified and the investigation was turned over to the federal government, the report said.
The report, seen by Fox News Digital, confirms that the Green Beret was on leave from his Special Forces unit and had rented a Tesla Cybertruck through car-sharing platform Turo.
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Army Special Forces soldier Matthew Livelsberger detonated his vehicle outside the Trump International Hotel on New Year’s Day. (Los Angeles Metropolitan Police Department)
He loaded it with fireworks, gas cans and camping fuel and drove it to the Trump International Hotel just after 8:40 a.m. on January 1, 2025. There, the vehicle exploded, causing damage and injuring six people.
LVMPD and federal investigators described the incident as a premeditated vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attack that had “the potential to cause mass casualties and widespread structural damage” but did not call it terrorism.
Investigators also reconstructed Livelsberger’s final days using phone data, bank records and surveillance footage.
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Matthew Livesberger drove a rented Cybertruck outside the Trump Las Vegas hotel. (Los Angeles Metropolitan Police Department)
Surveillance video shows Levelsberger pouring accelerant into the bed of the truck moments before the explosion, an act LVMPD said reflected planning rather than impulse.
Counterterrorism investigators concluded that he wanted to make “a very big, very public statement”, suggesting that the Las Vegas location was chosen for visibility and influence.
He also left a note claiming the attack was not terror-related but a way for the soldier to “cleanse” his mind, but he criticized America’s “impeccable leadership” that is “close to collapse,” officials said.
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Federal investigators described the incident as a premeditated vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attack, but did not call it terrorism. (Los Angeles Metropolitan Police Department)
“This was not a terrorist attack, it was a warning,” Livelsberger wrote in the Notes app on his phone.
Livelsberger wrote, “Americans care only about spectacle and violence. What better way to make a point than stunts with fireworks and explosives.”
One of his messages is said to have gone to former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor Shawn Ryan.
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Fox News Digital has contacted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for comment.
