On Jan. 1st, 2025, on an early Wednesday morning, people celebrated the new year with family and friends–unaware of the tragedy that would occur just moments later. A Tesla Cybertruck parked directly in front of Trump hotel, located in Las Vegas, would somehow combust in mere seconds. The blast injured seven people and claimed one life, the person who caused the explosion to begin with.
Authorities stated that 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger, a soldier who served since 2006, was the one behind the attack. His cause of death was ruled out to be suicide rather than burning as they found a handgun between his legs along with several other items such as another firearm, a number of fireworks, a passport, a military ID, credit cards, an iPhone and a smartwatch. It was a shock when authorities learned that somebody like Livelsberger would be one to initiate the attack due to his extensive time in the army that was devoted to combating the exact thing he had done. He was awarded five bronze stars, deployed in Afghanistan twice, served in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo.
A rather strange coincidence was what happened between Livelsberger and another attacker in New Orleans, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar. Jabbar and Livelsberger both spent time at a base Fort Bragg located in North Carolina. Hours earlier before the Cybertruck attack , Jabbar killed 14 people by ramming a truck into a crowd–and was ultimately shot dead by police officers. Officials stated there was no correlation between the two.
People were quick to assume and shift some of the blame to the one who made the controversial Tesla truck, Elon Musk. They had made the assumption that the blast could be a design flaw in the car–leaving truck owners fearful for their lives and hesitant. The reasoning behind their hesitancy is the rumors of faulty design, leaving owners concerned their own trucks would explode without warning. Musk was quick to debunk the rumors, stating that the blast was indeed a design on Matthew Livelseberger’s decisions. Despite this, people were still hesitant to trust Musk due to his new position in Trump’s inner circle.
The attack was devastating and a cruel start to the new year. It makes others wonder if this was a sort of “premonition” or “warning” for what is to come to the U.S in 2025.
