A note left by the highly decorated US Army soldier, Matthew Livelsberger, who shot himself in a Tesla Cybertruck just before it blew up outside Trump hotel in Las Vegas, reads that the incident was not a terrorist attack but a 'wake up call', investigators said on Friday.
In the note released by authorities on Friday, Livelsberger writes, "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."
What we know about Matthew Livelsberger?
Livelsberger, who served in the Army since 2006, was deployed twice to Afghanistan. His letters covered a range of topics including political grievances, societal problems, and both domestic and international issues, including the war in Ukraine. In one of the letters he wrote that the U.S. was “terminally ill and headed toward collapse.”
He recently returned from an overseas assignment in Germany and was on approved leave when he died. He was awarded five Bronze Stars, including one with a valour device for courage under fire, a combat infantry badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valour.
The 37-year-old Green Beret from Colorado Springs, Colorado, also wrote in notes he left on his cellphone that he needed to “cleanse” his mind “of the brothers I've lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took.”
Earlier on Wednesday, an explosion caused minor injuries to seven people but virtually no damage to the Trump International Hotel. Authorities also confirmed that Livelsberger acted alone.
Livelsberger's views on Trump and Musk
Livelsberger harboured no ill will toward President-elect Donald Trump, law enforcement officials said. In one of the notes he left, he said the country needed to “rally around” Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Neither Trump nor Musk was in Las Vegas on the day of the explosion. Musk, who has recently become a member of Trump's inner circle, was attending Trump's New Year's Eve party at his South Florida estate.
(With agency inputs)
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