Law enforcement officials named a US Army soldier from Colorado as the likely person inside a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, leaving the driver dead and seven people with minor injuries.
Authorities believe Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old active-duty US Army soldier from Colorado Springs, was inside the vehicle when it exploded and that he acted alone.
The body was burned beyond recognition and investigators were awaiting confirmation from DNA evidence and medical records.
The explosion came hours after a driver, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans' famed French Quarter, killing at least 15 people before being shot dead by police.
The FBI said it had so far found no definitive link between the New Year's Day New Orleans truck attack that killed 15 people and the Cybertruck explosion.
The person in the Cybertruck sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound immediately before the explosives in the vehicle were detonated, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference.
A handgun was found in the vehicle.
It was one of two semi-automatic handguns found in the Cybertruck, both of which were lawfully purchased by Mr Livelsberger on 30 December.
Law enforcement also found military identification, a passport, an iPhone and credit cards in the truck.
Mr Livelsberger was assigned to the US Army Special Operations Command and was on approved leave at the time of his death, an Army official said.
The US Army Special Operations Command would not comment on an ongoing investigation, a spokesperson said.
A US official told journalists that Mr Livelsberger had been awarded a Bronze Star for valour and an Army commendation for valour, along with a Combat Infantryman Badge.
He completed five combat deployments to Afghanistan, the official said.
The FBI's Denver office said a search of a residential address in Colorado Springs by federal and local authorities was related to the Las Vegas explosion.
Videos taken by witnesses inside and outside the Las Vegas hotel showed the Cybertruck exploding and flames pouring out of it, as it sat in front of the hotel.
A Trump spokesperson did not return a request for comment.
The US president-elect's son, Eric Trump, praised Las Vegas fire and law enforcement officials for their quick action following the explosion.
'Lots of questions'
The Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas is part of the Trump Organisation, the company of US President-elect Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on 20 January.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk was a key backer of Trump in his 2024 presidential campaign and is also an adviser to the incoming president.
"It's not lost on us that it's in front of the Trump building, that it's a Tesla vehicle, but we don't have information at this point that definitively tells us or suggests it was because of this particular ideology, or... any of the reasoning behind it," Mr McMahill said.
Watch: Enhanced security outside Trump Tower in New York City after Las Vegas explosion
Police said Livelsberger rented the Cybertruck in Denver on 28 December and made stops in several cities including Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Flagstaff, Arizona, before arriving in Las Vegas early yesterday.
The truck drove along the city's hotel and casino-lined strip until it reached the Trump hotel, where it drove through and later returned to the valet area.
The Trump hotel was evacuated after the explosion and most guests were moved to another hotel.
"Detectives found gasoline canisters and large fireworks mortars in the bed of the truck," a police statement said.
Mr Musk, in a post on X, said, "we have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself."
Both the Cybertruck and the vehicle used in the New Orleans attack had been rented through car-sharing service Turo, Mr McMahill said.
A Turo spokesperson said the company did not believe either of the renters of the vehicles involved had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat.
