Summary

Matthew Livelsberger, the suspect behind the Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, was described as a “big” Trump supporter and a highly trained Green Beret with 19 years of military service.

Livelsberger, who died in the blast, rented the Cybertruck in Colorado and filled it with explosives, injuring seven.

Authorities are investigating the incident’s symbolism, speculating it may have been a political statement due to its location and links to Trump and Elon Musk.

No clear motive has been established.

  • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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    5 days ago

    I will still wait for more concrete details before I cast judgement, but in the meantime I can say this much:

    Many leftist haters of Trump wouldn’t go in a Cybertruck to make a statement. They’d probably even refuse to be paid to get in one.

    • Tiefling IRL@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      5 days ago

      The stupid things have had over a half dozen recalls in the last year. You couldn’t pay me enough to get in one.

      I already feel unsafe when I call a Lyft or Uber and get a Tesla. That alone removes a star.

    • SapphironZA@sh.itjust.works
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      4 days ago

      When I look at his background. 19 years of military service at the sharp end, does not leave a person “fully whole”. The US also has a history of neglecting the mental health of its service members.

      This suicide might have more to do with those factors, than politics. The apparent political statement might just have been a final cry for attention.

      • 2piradians@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        Further, nobody willingly leaves the military at 19 years. 20 years and you get retirement pay for the rest of your life–19 gets you nothing.

        Maybe he had a medical retirement, which is fully possible for any number of reasons, but…

        Probably he did something egregious to get kicked out at 19 years. Leaders will often let servicemembers near 20 years retire when they’re guilty of wrongdoing (in consideration of the many years served beforehand). To cut short a retirement career is to make an example of a person for doing something awful.

        Edit: He was still active duty and stationed in Germany, making my whole comment moot. My bad. That’s what I get for not reading the article before commenting ¯_(ツ)_/¯

        • Freefall@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          Quick article skim, but I didn’t see where it said he was ex-military. I see a lot of past tense that could be interpreted as that, or as “the guy is dead and entirely past tense now”. I may have missed it.

      • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        The US neglects mental health in general. Cluster B’s end up in charge because they lack basic empathy. When they get there the first thing they do is try to make sure they never get outed as a cluster B. After all they know what they do is wrong but think they can just tell enough lies to fool people. They gut any mental health system they can. Just look at that traitor reagan. He gutted the national system and forty years later we have a homeless population full of untreated mentally Ill.

    • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zip
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      4 days ago

      So… there may be a motive.

      https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/cybertruck-bomber-matthew-livelsberger-wife-b2673319.html

      The wife of the Cybertruck bomber Matthew Livelsberger left him just days before he detonated the vehicle outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, according to a report.

      With a bit more context from some of the texts he made here from here:

      https://www.newsweek.com/cybertruck-explosion-matthew-livelsberger-texts-ex-girlfriend-2009064

      My entirely premature, editorialized take is that this guy cheated on his wife, or his wife left him due to suspecting as much, he believed his life was ruined, and decided to go out with a bang.

      He was a big Trump guy, was a Green Beret for multiple tours of duty, until 2019 when he suffered a traumatic brain injury, he kept working in the Army, most recently as remote and autonomous systems manager stationed in Germany.

      Then he went home on leave, his wife leaves him, and 3 days before his death, several days after his wife left him, he texted his previous ex (not his very recently ex wife):

      “I rented a Tesla Cybertruck. It’s the s**t,” read a text to Arritt, obtained by the Denver Gazette.

      “I feel like Batman or halo,”

      He apparently shot himself in the head whilst inside the CyberTruck, parked outside of the Trump hotel… which then caught on fire, and the fireworks and fuel cannisters inside the CyberTruck eventually went off as well:

      https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86wnx174q8o

      “I’m comfortable calling it a suicide with a bombing that occurred immediately after,” Sheriff McMahill said during Thursday’s press conference.

      As far as I can tell so far… the actual, specific mechanism that caused of the ignition of the CyberTruck does not appear to have been determined so far, but it was probably by design of Livelsberger.

      While the car having fireworks inside of it is possibly coincidentally explained by New Years, fuel cans inside a rented CyberTruck probably signal an intention to go out with a bang.

      So, yeah, summed up, my take is that this notably brain damaged individual, who was a big Trump fan and probably Elon fan as well, who felt like Batman driving around in a Halo warthog in a CyberTruck…

      …basically just became suicidal after his wife left him and went on a joyride in a CyberTruck, then game overed himself in spectacular fashion.

    • Brodysseus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 days ago

      Maybe he is trying to say something about the president elect’s relationship with teslas owner.

      I can imagine that relationship could seem troubling if you were a fan