AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Authorities are releasing more information about the investigation into a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. Seven people were injured. The driver is dead, and new details are emerging about him. Joe Schoenmann hosts Nevada Public Radio's talk show "State Of Nevada" and joins us now. Welcome.
JOE SCHOENMANN, BYLINE: Hi, Ailsa.
CHANG: Hi. OK, for people who were not following all of this yesterday, can you just go back real quick and describe what exactly happened?
SCHOENMANN: Yeah. It was about 8:40 a.m. Wednesday. A Tesla Cybertruck drove to the valet entrance of Trump International Hotel, which is just off the Las Vegas Strip. Seconds later, it exploded, shooting flames some 20 feet into the air. The driver was identified as 37-year-old Matthew Alan Livelsberger. He was an active-duty Army soldier, first joining in 2006. He was a special operations sergeant based in Germany, and he was back in the U.S. on approved leave. And authorities said today they were unable to initially identify him because he was burned beyond recognition, but they did find other clues.
CHANG: Like what kind of clues?
SCHOENMANN: Well, Las Vegas sheriff Kevin McMahill said they'd recovered a number of items, including several firearms, a military ID, a passport and an iPhone. They also identified some tattoos that matched photos. And then McMahill mentioned this key finding.
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KEVIN MCMAHILL: We also discovered, through the coroner's office, that the individual had sustained a gunshot wound to the head prior to the detonation of the vehicle. One of the handguns was found at his feet inside of the vehicle.
SCHOENMANN: And the sheriff said they believe that gunshot was self-inflicted, making this an apparent suicide. The FBI says determining Livelsberger's motivation here remains their top priority, and they're continuing to look into any possible connections with New Orleans and that attack.
CHANG: Yeah, tell us more about the similarities between those two incidents because there were several, right? Like, what do we know so far?
SCHOENMANN: Yeah, actually several. According to law enforcement, both Livelsberger and Shamsud-Din Jabbar served in the U.S. Army. Jabbar was the man, again, who drove that pickup truck into a crowd of people in the French Quarter in New Orleans. He killed 14 people, injuring dozens, before he was shot by police. And both incidents happened yesterday, New Year's Day, in these cities that attract lots of tourists. Jabbar and Livelsberger both served at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. There's no indication they served in the same unit, but they also both served in Afghanistan in 2009, and they both used the car app Turo to rent vehicles used in the attacks. And here's McMahill again.
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MCMAHILL: If these turned out to be simply similarities, very strange similarities to have. And so we're not prepared to rule in or rule out anything at this point. There's lots more for us to do in this investigation.
CHANG: Well, what else are investigators focused on at this point?
SCHOENMANN: Again, motive is the big one. And the FBI's Evans said it wasn't lost on him that this was a Tesla vehicle - the company owned by Elon Musk, an adviser to President-elect Donald Trump - and that this happened in front of a Trump hotel. But there are still lots of questions. They still don't know exactly what set off the explosion. There are bomb techs and forensics experts looking for clues. The FBI and intelligence officials are seeking leads domestically and internationally to find out what might have prompted this fatal decision.
CHANG: That is KNPR's Joe Schoenmann. Thank you very much, Joe.
SCHOENMANN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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