A decorated Army veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder called U.S. government leadership “weak” and appeared to acknowledge he purposely blew up a Tesla Cybertruck at the entrance of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day, police said Friday.
Clark County/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said investigators were able to access one of two phones found in the Cybertruck, and viewed writing in an app that served almost as a journal, documenting some of Matthew Alan Livelsberger’s movements and state of mind from Dec. 21 to New Year’s Eve.
Two letters in the phone app appear to point to a motive in the blast, Koren said. In one letter, he tells “fellow service members, veterans and all Americans” it’s time to “wake up” because the country’s leadership is “weak” and “only serves to enrich themselves.”
A second letter appeared to shed more light Livelsberger’s thinking.
“We are the United States of America, the best country … to ever exist, but right now, we are terminally ill and headed towards collapse,” a second letter said. “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. … I need to cleanse my mind of the brothers I’ve lost, and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
