The decorated Green Beret who died by suicide in a blazing Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), investigators said on Friday, saying they had found no links to “terrorist” groups.
Matthew Livelsberger, 37, a member of the elite US special forces, shot himself on New Year’s Day in the rented Tesla vehicle filled with fuel containers and fireworks, which exploded. Seven people nearby in the valet area of the glass-fronted Trump International Hotel were wounded in the blast.
“Although this incident is more public and more sensational than usual, it ultimately appears to be a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily decorated combat veteran who was struggling with PTSD and other issues,” FBI Special Agent Spencer Evans told a news conference on Friday.
Photo: AFP
Investigators said that they were still examining Livelsberger’s devices, but that so far they had found two letters on his phone in which he spoke of the “burden” of having taken lives, among other issues.
Though the truck exploded outside the Trump-branded hotel in Las Vegas, part-owned by US president-elect Donald Trump’s family business, Livelsberger “held no animosity” toward the Republican, Evans said.
He said investigators have “not identified any connection between this subject and any other terrorist organization.”
Some personal and family issues might have contributed to the incident, he said.
Livelsberger’s body was burned beyond recognition, but Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said authorities had confirmed via dental records and DNA that he was indeed the person who died inside the Cybertruck.
He said investigators were still working to establish the exact sequence of events in the Cybertruck, but for now it appeared that Livelsberger shooting himself dead and the blast which ignited the truck were “simultaneous.”
Evans also said again that investigators have found no link between the blast and the deadly attack in New Orleans which also took place on Wednesday.
In that attack, a US army veteran loyal to the Islamic State rammed a crowd of New Year’s revelers with a truck, killing 14 before being shot dead by police.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
RSS