Explosive Links: The Military Ties Behind New Year's Day Attacks in Las Vegas and New Orleans
On New Year’s Day, two devastating events shattered celebrations in the United States: an explosion outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas and a deadly vehicular attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Now, authorities are uncovering a chilling link between the perpetrators: both men were former U.S. Army soldiers with overlapping service histories. Both vehicles used in the attacks were rented from the same mobile phone application, Turo. Both attacks, explosive and deadly, happened within hours of each other.
The Las Vegas Explosion
In Las Vegas, a Tesla Cybertruck detonated outside the Trump hotel, killing the driver, identified as 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger, a Special Forces soldier with nearly two decades of military service. The explosion injured seven bystanders but caused minimal structural damage due to the Cybertruck’s reinforced design, which directed the blast upward. Packed with gas canisters, firework mortars, and camping fuel, the rented vehicle was a makeshift bomb.
Livelsberger, on leave from active duty, was tracked traveling from Colorado Springs to Las Vegas using Tesla’s charging station network. Authorities have confirmed that the vehicle was rented through Turo, an app also used in the New Orleans attack hours earlier.
The New Orleans Carnage
In the early hours of New Year’s Day, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran, drove a rented truck into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street. The attack left 15 dead and dozens injured. Jabbar, who was armed and wearing body armor, was killed in a confrontation with police. Authorities later discovered an ISIS flag affixed to the vehicle, prompting the FBI to label the attack as terrorism. Abdur Jabbar, the brother of the attacker, told the New York Times that they were raised in a Christian household, but his brother had "been Muslim for most of his life." He emphasized, "What he did does not represent Islam. This is more about some type of radicalization, not religion," the 24-year-old said.
Shared Histories and Possible Connections
Both Livelsberger and Jabbar served at the massive Fort Liberty base in North Carolina, home to the Army’s Special Forces Command. Investigators are exploring whether their overlapping service histories or any shared grievances could explain the near-simultaneous attacks.
Livelsberger’s LinkedIn profile listed his recent role as a manager for remote and autonomous systems, reflecting his advanced military training. Jabbar, a former staff sergeant, served in Afghanistan and transitioned to the Army Reserves before leaving the military in 2020.
Heightened Security and Public Reactions
The symbolic targets of these attacks—a property owned by President-elect Donald Trump and the heart of New Orleans’ cultural celebrations—have sparked public and political debates about security. Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO and a key figure in Trump’s transition team, provided crucial support to investigators, including video evidence from charging stations and vehicle data.
Law enforcement officials emphasized that no definitive link has been established between the two incidents but noted that the use of Turo-rented vehicles in both attacks is under close scrutiny.
FBI agents, in collaboration with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), have launched raids in Colorado Springs and other states tied to Livelsberger’s activities. Meanwhile, Turo representatives have assured authorities of their full cooperation, stating that neither attacker had a criminal background that would have flagged them as security threats.
A Nation on Edge
As authorities work to untangle the connections between these acts of violence, questions remain about how two military-trained individuals could carry out such attacks on the same day. These events have prompted heightened security nationwide and left Americans grappling with the unsettling implications of such coordinated chaos.
While investigators piece together the motivations behind these tragedies, the nation mourns the victims and braces for answers in what has already become a defining moment of 2025.