What we know about Cybertruck explosion suspect Matthew Livelsberger

The suspect who rented the Cybertruck that exploded outside of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year's Day has been identified as U.S. Army Master Sgt. Matthew Livelsberger, 37, a Special Operations soldier who was on leave from his base in Germany, investigators said.

As investigators continue their investigation into the blast, a profile of Livelsberger is emerging from the Army and people who knew him.

The Clark County Coroner's Office said Livelsberger sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and that a handgun was found at his feet. The suicide took place before the explosion, according to investigators.

Livelsberger had purchased two semiautomatic firearms legally on Monday, according to a spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Seven people suffered minor injuries when the truck, which was filled with fireworks-style mortars and gas canisters, exploded around 8:40 a.m. Pacific time.

Investigators believe the explosion was intentional but hadn't determined a motive, Sheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters at a news conference Friday.

Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Las Vegas Division, said investigators are looking into the suspect's mental health.

"Investigative steps have discovered and information with the Army indicates that he likely suffered from PTSD, and we are also aware that there were potential other family issues or personal grievances in his own life that may have been contributing factors," he told reporters Friday.

Livelsberger had been receiving mental health assistance over the last year, a U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation told ABC News.

Livelsberger's wife told investigators her husband had been out of their Colorado Springs, Colorado, residence since around Christmas after a dispute over allegations of infidelity, an official who had been briefed on the investigation told ABC News. The official added that she said her husband would not hurt anyone.

A relative of Livelsberger who did not want to be named told ABC News that he had been recently married and just had a baby.

Filings from the Franklin County Probate Court in Ohio show that a man named Matthew Alan Livelsberger and a woman named Sara Elizabeth Wilson were issued a wedding license on Dec. 3, 2012. A different family member told ABC News that Livelsberger had since divorced and remarried.

ABC News has not yet located divorce documents, but court records show that a marriage application was filed in El Paso County, Colorado, on July 8, 2022, for Livelsberger and Jennifer Anne Davis. Davis did not respond to a request for comments.

Calling Livelsberger a "patriot" who "loved his country," the aforementioned unnamed relative said he believed the incident in Las Vegas was possibly an accident, characterizing Livelsberger as 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."

Livelsberger allegedly supported President-elect Donald Trump, the official who had been briefed on the investigation said.

A relative of Livelsberger recalled that he had been a Trump supporter during his first term and remembered him saying that "Trump was a soldier's best friend."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a major Trump donor who has been advising the president-elect, has been assisting in the investigation, authorities said, including providing police with video of Livelsberger at Tesla charging stations along his route from Colorado to Las Vegas.

On Friday evening investigators released a note found on the suspect's phone where he claimed to have major grievances about the country and military.

In one of the letters police say were found on his phone, Livelsberger expressed support for Donald Trump and the president-elect's allies, Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He also expressed disdain for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and income inequality and expressed a concern about homelessness, according to the letters.

"You'll see that he actually calls it a stunt in one of these documents that we're going to release to you, that he was trying to get the attention of the American people because he was upset about a number of different things. But I'll let those writings speak for themselves," the sheriff said Friday before the note was released.

Evans added that Livelsberger was not on anyone's radar.

"He didn't have a criminal history. There was nothing that we would have been looking into him for up until this point," Evans said.

Livelsberger enlisted in the Army as a Special Forces candidate and served on active duty from January 2006 to March 2011, then joined the National Guard and served until July 2012, followed by a stint in the Army Reserve from July to December 2012, according to the spokesperson. He went back on active duty in December 2012 as a Special Operations soldier, the spokesperson said.

Livelsberger was featured in the History Channel series "Ultimate Solider Challenge" in 2013 where he and a fellow Green Beret competed against two other teams in various military courses, including a reconstruction of the Osama Bin Laden raid.

Livelsberger spent almost 20 years working for the Army in different capacities, including communications, intelligence and operations, law enforcement officials confirmed. For 11 months spanning 2011 to 2012, he worked as a contractor for an image analysis technology company in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He spent time at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, and was deployed to Afghanistan three times, according to the spokesperson.

Livelsberger was a Green Beret operations sergeant who was stationed mostly at Fort Carson, Colorado, near Colorado Springs, and in Germany, according to McMahill.

He was on approved leave from the Army at the time of his death, according to U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

Army officials said they thought Livelsberger was stable enough following his mental health treatments to go home for Christmas and his leave was approved, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation.

Livelsberger received a number of commendations throughout his military career, including one Bronze Star with a "V" device for valor and four additional Bronze Stars, according to the Army spokesperson.

"USASOC is in full cooperation with federal and state law enforcement agencies but, as a matter of policy, will not comment on ongoing investigations," the spokesperson said.

Livelsberger also reported on his LinkedIn profile winning the Department of State Meritorious Honor Award in 2016 for "interagency contributions that resulted in increased interoperability and efficiency" while serving as an operations sergeant for the U.S. embassy in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

ABC News reached out to the State Department regarding this award but did not receive an immediate response.

Livelsberger allegedly rented the Cybertruck in Denver on Dec. 28 using the car-sharing app Turo, the same app used to rent a truck by the suspect in the New Orleans attack on New Year's Day, though investigators said they have not established any links between the two attacks.

Livelsberger told the truck's owner that he was going camping at the Grand Canyon, the official said.

ABC News' Alex Stone, Luis Martinez and Kaitlin Morris contributed to this report.

If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.