Master Sgt. Matthew Livelsberger, the U.S. Army Green Beret who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck on New Year’s Day in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, reportedly suffered from PTSD and other personal issues when he decided to take his own life this week.
Officials from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD), FBI, and ATF shared updates from their investigation into the incident at a press conference on Friday afternoon.
They revealed that they have found no connection between the incident in Las Vegas and the Islamic terrorist attack that unfolded just hours prior to the incident in New Orleans where more than a dozen people were murdered.
Law enforcement confirmed Livelsberger’s identity through a variety of investigative techniques, including DNA matching.
LVMPD Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said that Livelsberger documented his activities during the 10 days prior to the explosion in an app on his cellphone, including where he traveled, weapons he bought, camping gear he bought, and more. They said that at the moment, there did not appear to be any significant meaning behind his decision to commit the act in a Tesla Cybertruck.
Koren said that the incident was being viewed as a suicide via a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED), even though he took his life with a single gunshot wound to the head just moments before the explosion.
Police released the following excerpts from writings they discovered on one of his cellphones that they recovered from inside the vehicle:
- “Fellow Servicemembers, Veterans, and all Americans, TIME TO WAKE UP! We are being led by weak and feckless leadership who only serve to enrich themselves.”
- “This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake up call. Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives? Why did I personally do it now? I needed to cleanse my mind of the brothers I’ve lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took.”
- “We are the United States of America, the best country people to ever exist! But right now we are terminally ill and headed toward collapse.”
“He does offer additional information that is varying on the spectrum in terms of political grievances, issues about the conflicts elsewhere, not here, domestic issues, societal issues, a variety of other things, including personal challenges as well,” Koren said. “We are intending to release those initial letters so people can understand the best they can what the person’s thought process was at one point in time.”
FBI Special Agent Spencer Evans said that law enforcement has not been able to identify any information indicating that Livelsberger belonged to any kind of a terrorist group or had any contact with one.
“Investigative steps have discovered, and information from the Army indicates, that he likely suffered from PTSD, and we are also aware that there were potential other family issues or personal grievances in his own life that may have been contributing factors,” Evans said.
He said that the Livelsberger “considered, planned, and thoughtfully prepared for this act alone.”
Evans again added that the incident was “a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily decorated combat veteran who is struggling with PTSD and other issues.”
He addressed an email that was released on a popular podcast that is allegedly from Livelsberger, saying that the FBI has “not conclusively determined that that’s from the subject, but feel confident, based on evidence that we’re uncovering on his devices, that that was, in fact, from [the suspect].”
“So in terms of the so-called manifesto that’s circling or circulating online, we have strong evidence to suggest that it was the subject that wrote it, but we haven’t conclusively proven that,” he said. “And that evidence relates to other evidence that we’re finding, that we’re able to compare that lead us to believe it was in fact him who sent it.”
Evans said that Livelsberger was not on the FBI’s radar because he had no criminal history.
The post <a href=https://www.dailywire.com/news/man-who-blew-up-cybertruck-was-struggling-with-ptsd-and-other-issues-officials-say target=_blank >Man Who Blew Up Cybertruck Was ‘Struggling With PTSD And Other Issues,’ Officials Say</a> appeared first on Conservative Angle | Conservative Angle - Conservative News Clearing House
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