COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — As investigators work to learn everything they can about the Colorado man suspected in the New Year's Day Cybertruck explosion outside of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, a community on the east side of Colorado Springs is in shock.
Authorities identified the suspect as Matthew Livelsberger, 37, of Colorado Springs. They also revealed that the suspect rented the Cybertruck through the app Turo and picked it up in Denver on Dec. 28, 2024.
Eastside Landing was overtaken by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents on Wednesday evening as a perimeter was secured around a group of townhomes at the complex. Crime scene tape was strung up, and law enforcement only allowed residents inside.
That perimeter shrunk overnight, only to come back in full force Thursday morning as the FBI executed a search warrant on a unit where Livelsberger is believed to have lived.
“Just a normal dude. So nothing that I would ever expect," said Keni Mac, who has lived in the neighborhood for the last three years. “It's crazy because, I mean, who has a person like this next to them?"
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Investigators on Thursday said Livelsberger fatally shot himself before the explosion in the Cybertruck.
A military ID, passport, two firearms that were legally purchased on Monday, a number of fireworks, an iPhone and a smartwatch, and credit cards in Livelsberger’s name were found inside the charred Tesla vehicle. Nothing used in the attack was commercial grade, according to law enforcement officials.
The Department of Defense confirmed Livelsberger was a decorated Green Beret Operations Sergeant who spent most of his time in Fort Carson and Germany. He was previously in the National Guard and Army Reserve.
A U.S. Army spokesperson said Livelsberger served in the active duty Army from January 2006 to March 2011, before joining the National Guard from March 2011 to July 2012, and then the Army Reserve from July 2012 to December 2012. He entered the active duty Army in December 2012 and was a U.S. Army Special Operations Soldier, according to the spokesperson.
Livelsberger was on approved leave at the time of his death.
ABC News spoke with a family member of Livelsberger, who wished to remain anonymous. The relative called Livelsberger a "patriot" who "loved the country" and would say that "Trump was a soldier's best friend."
Livelsberger was the “last person in the world to do anything like this and the last person in the world to take his own life and to hurt anyone," the family member told ABC News.
The relative continued to say Livelsberger was recently married with a newborn baby.
Investigators spoke with Livelsberger's wife, who said he would not hurt anyone. She also told them he had been out of the house since around Christmas following an argument between the two.
Mac said she saw the family frequently around the neighborhood.
"They'll have windows open and you can hear them like talking to the baby. They'll be out grilling sometimes, sitting having breakfast outside on the porch, and taking their dog out on a walk," said Mac. “I saw them from a newlywed couple — it seemed, from what I know — and then she's pregnant, and then she has the baby, and I see them walking the dog together, and it just seems like the All-American life. And then reality hits, and it's just crazy.”
Livelsberger and the suspect in the New Orleans attack, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, both served in Fort Bragg. There is no evidence they served in the same unit, according to law enforcement officials.
The two suspects also overlapped in Afghanistan in 2009, but investigators do not have any evidence showing they were in the same providence, location, or unit at the time.
The two suspects both rented vehicles from the app Turo, as well.
In a press conference Thursday, Las Vegas law enforcement said there may be interesting similarities in the two cases, but so far no direct connection between the two suspects has been confirmed by investigators.
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ABC News reviewed criminal records from both Ohio and Colorado, two states associated with Livelsberger based on property records. So far, only one speeding charge in Ohio has been discovered.
Investigators are still currently working to determine a motive in this case,and have not yet accessed Livelsberger's phones and computers to understand his communications.
There is no information connecting Livelsberger to a terrorist organization at this time.
The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are working on the case in a joint investigation led by the Las Vegas Police Department.
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