Master Sgt. Matthew Alan Livelsberger, a 37-year-old serviceman who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel this week in Las Vegas on Wednesday, left a note claiming the explosion was a “Wake-up call” and “not a terrorist attack,” The New York Times reported on Friday citing police.
A phone belonging to Livelberger left notes warning the United States was “headed toward collapse.”
“This was not a terrorist attack,” the notes said. “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?”
Livelsberger shot himself just before the explosion. Police claimed he was suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder at the time of his death.
Occurring within hours of a terror attack in New Orleans by a former serviceman, and the Donald Trump-related elements of the explosion had initially opened concerns that the incident was terrorism-related.
“It’s not lost on us that it happened in front of the Trump building, and a Tesla vehicle was used,” said Spencer Evans, the FBI special agent in charge.
However, the New York Post reported that any other type of vehicle may have resulted in more bystanders being wounded. It was also reported that Livelsberger was a Trump supporter.
“The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards,” Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, reportedly claimed upon hearing of the explosion.
“Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken.”
“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,” Livelsberger said in one of the notes.
The notes left behind by Livelsberger reportedly listed a number of personal and political grievances.
“Fellow Servicemembers, Veterans, and all Americans, time to wake up!” he said in one excerpt. “We are being led by weak and feckless leadership who only serve to enrich themselves.”
Problems in personal life
In the week prior to the attack, Livelberger’s wife had reportedly broken up with him, two informed sources told the New York Post. The relationship had reportedly ended as a result of infidelity.
An ex-girlfriend, who spoke to Livelberger in the days before his death, told the Associated Press, “I don’t know what drove him to do this, but I think the military didn’t get him help when he needed it.”
“There was a lot of stigma in his unit, they were, you know, big, strong, Special Forces guys there, there was no weakness allowed and mental health is weakness is what they saw,” she said.