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Summary

Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Army veteran from Colorado Springs, has been identified as the driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day.

Livelsberger died in the blast, which injured seven people with minor injuries.

Authorities are investigating the explosion as a potential act of terror, noting Livelsberger's military connection to Shamsud Din Jabbar, the suspect in the deadly New Orleans attack hours earlier.

Firework mortars and fuel canisters were found in the truck, with no confirmed motive yet.

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[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 41 points 2 days ago

Musk took the opportunity to praise Tesla’s Cybertruck for being so sturdy that he said it helped contain the blast.

“The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards,” he wrote in a post on X.

So, they're bad for carbombs, because the body traps the explosion and the weak point is the roof.

This also makes them very very bad for anyone inside if there's any type of accident.

[-] Rhaedas@fedia.io 26 points 2 days ago

Not a great time for a marketing spiel, genius. Btw, even if you were right, everyone is still making fun of you because of the connection.

[-] Hayduke@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

So, shitty truck sorta manages an even shittier car bomb.

Weird flex, but thanks for the distillation, Musk.

[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The car bomb seems to have been assembled by throwing a bunch of sorta-burny-stuff in the back and thinking "that'll probably do." This may be the most incompetent "terrorist" we've heard about in a while.

Has anything been said about the guy's motives? The choice of vehicle and target suggest this may not be another MAGA attack.

EDIT: Turns out the guy was a Trump fan after all, so this doesn't really break the pattern of right-wing political violence:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cybertruck-explosion-suspect-matthew-livelsberger-vegas-b2672940.html?

“He used to have all patriotic stuff on Facebook, he was 100 percent loving the country,” he continued. “He loved Trump, and he was always a very, very patriotic soldier, a patriotic American...."

People are so confused to think that love of country and love of Trump naturally go together.

[-] Hayduke@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Terribly gullible, misguided people. I would almost feel bad for them if they didn't literally have all of the worlds public facing information, accessible at any time, within thier pocket to separate fact from fiction.

But then again he assembled the terrorist equivalent to soda and pop-rocks, so perhaps research wasn't his strong suit.

I really believe half of the country should reacquaint themselves with the word "patriot"

[-] Drusas@fedia.io 2 points 2 days ago

And the only person he managed to kill was himself. The perfect terrorist!

[-] masterspace@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

No, it doesn't, cars don't usually explode from internal sources that would ricochet off the walls.

Occupants usually die from external things crumpling / penetrating the shell, or just from the internal forces of coming to a stop too fast.

I hate Musk as much as the next person but this an absurd reach. Not every possible factor of everything he's ever touched has to be bad in every way.

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

No, it doesn’t, cars don’t usually explode from internal sources that would ricochet off the walls

Where do you think the battery is located?

If a cyber truck catches fire or explodes, it's built like an oven and contains the forces whether thats an explosion or heat from a fire.

When you couple with issues exiting the vehicle in an emergency it's a valid safety concern.

[-] masterspace@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

You have literally zero data or source to back that up. You made up bullshit because you're salty about Musk.

Batteries catch fire, they don't explode, and the batteries are located beneath the steel floor.

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago

I have a fried who's elementary age child acts like this with musk.

It's weird if yout parents let you on social media alone, it's weird if this is actually an adult

Either way, have a nice life. If you're nicer to others, they may help you understand things, no one will help you when you act lol kentgis tho

[-] masterspace@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Bruh, Musk is a low life piece of shit with more than enough valid reasons to shit on him.

So when you flat out make up reaching bullshit like this, it just gives his fans reason to think his haters are rabid and irrational.

Don't project your childishness onto others, and don't make up baseless bullshit about automotive safety. You wanna talk about the, imho, flat out criminally negligent placement of Tesla's emergency door releases, I'm all there. You wanna talk about how having a strong roll cage around the car makes it more dangerous and I'm gonna need to see something backing that up. Spreading misinformation is still spreading misinformation.

[-] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 2 days ago

The parts that failed were:

  1. The "armoured glass" (remember the steel ball demo?) between the cargo area and the cabin
  2. The other windows, so everything vented though the cabin
  3. The tonneau cover over the cargo area

So don't carry armed explosives and pyrotechnics in a closed cybertruck

I wonder if both soldiers expected their hired electric trucks to suffer battery fires with the way they treated them. If they did they were disappointed

this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2025
67 points (94.7% liked)

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