US soldier's note reveals he sought peace from 'burden of lives I took'

A highly decorated American army soldier who fatally shot himself in a Tesla Cybertruck just before blowing it up outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas has left notes saying the New Year's Day explosion was a stunt to serve as a "wake up call" for the country's ills, investigators said.

Matthew Livelsberger, a 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."

Livelsberger served in the Army since 2006 and deployed twice to Afghanistan.

"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," Livelsberger wrote in one letter found by authorities and released on Friday.

The explosion caused minor injuries to seven people but virtually no damage to the Trump International Hotel. Authorities said that Livelsberger acted alone.

Livelsberger's letters covered a range of topics including political grievances, societal problems and both domestic and international issues, including the war in Ukraine. He said in one letter that the US was "terminally ill and headed toward collapse."

Tesla engineers, meanwhile, helped extract data from the Cybertruck for investigators, including Livelsberger's path between charging stations from Colorado through New Mexico and Arizona and on to Las Vegas, according to Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren.

"We still have a large volume of data to go through," Koren said on Friday. "There's thousands if not millions of videos and photos and documents and web history and all of those things that need to be analysed."

'My life has been a personal hell for the last year'

The new details came as investigators were still trying to determine whether Livelsberger sought to make a political point with the Tesla and the hotel bearing the president-elect’s name.

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.

Livelsberger died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Investigators have not yet explained how Livelsberger shot himself inside the Cybertruck while simultaneously igniting fireworks and camp fuel packed inside, causing the explosion.

Among the charred items found inside were a handgun at Livelsberger’s feet, another firearm, fireworks, a passport, a military ID, credit cards, an iPhone and a smartwatch. Authorities said both guns were purchased legally.

In recent years Livelsberger confided to Alicia Arritt, a former girlfriend who had served as an Army nurse, that he faced significant pain and exhaustion she attributed to traumatic brain injury.

He opened up to Arritt, 39, whom he met and began dating in Colorado in 2018, about exhaustion, pain that kept him up at night, and reliving violence from his deployment in Afghanistan, Arritt said.

"My life has been a personal hell for the last year," he told Arritt in text messages during their early days of dating that she shared with The Associated Press.

The Green Berets are highly trained US Army special forces who specialise in guerrilla warfare and unconventional fighting tactics.

Livelsberger rose through the ranks and deployed twice to Afghanistan and served in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and DRC, according to the Army. 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 valor device for courage under fire, a combat infantry badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valour.