Print Federal authorities uncovered new details into the suspected terrorist attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people while probing possible links to a second New Year’s Day incident in which a Tesla Cybertruck blew up outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas. The timing of both acts of violence, just hours apart, has drawn suspicion. Officials revealed both men in the attacks served for years in the U.S. military, including for a time at the same base. The two men also rented the vehicles used in the attacks through Turo, a platform where people can rent cars directly from vehicle owners. But federal investigators stressed it remains unclear whether there was any coordination or if the perpetrators knew each other. Advertisement “It’s an interesting thing during these kinds of investigations that if these turned out to be simply similarities — very strange similarities to have — so we’re not prepared to rule in or rule out anything at this point,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said. The incidents left the nation shaken, in part because officials on Wednesday suggested the man who drove through Bourbon Street plowing down pedestrians might have had accomplices. On Thursday, they said that they are now confident he acted alone and that they are not searching for other suspects. What we know about Shamsud-Din Jabbar, accused in deadly New Orleans attack The FBI has identified Shamsud-Din Jabbar as the man who drove a truck into a crowd on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street early Wednesday, killing at least 10. Jan. 1, 2025 The vehicle was caught on surveillance camera driving past the valet section of the hotel an hour before the incident, authorities said. Investigators have not yet figured out how the fireworks and gas and camping fuel canisters in the back of the vehicle were ignited. Federal officials are trying to determine the motive in the blast. Image from video provided by law enforcement shows items in the bed of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday. (Chase Stevens / Las Vegas Review-Journal via Associated Press) Livelsberger, who was from the Colorado Springs area, was a master sergeant in the Army’s elite Green Berets unit, according to an Army statement and his LinkedIn profile. He spent most of his time at Ft. Carson in Colorado and in Germany, where he was serving with the 10th Special Forces Group. He was on leave from Germany at the time of the explosion, McMahill said. The blast did not cause significant damage to the body of the Cybertruck nor did it shatter the glass doors leading to the hotel lobby. Most of the material inside the vehicle was fuel to help cause a greater explosion, according to Kenny Cooper, a special agent in charge from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Advertisement “The level of sophistication is not what we would expect from an individual with this type of military experience,” Cooper said. Both Livelsberger and Jabbar previously served at the Army’s Ft. Bragg, now known as Ft. Liberty, in North Carolina, but it is unclear whether they served at the same time or in the same unit. Both also served in Afghanistan in 2009, though officials say they don’t have any evidence they were in the same location in the country or in the same unit, McMahill said. Livelsberger entered active duty in the Army in December 2012 and was a candidate to be a Green Beret after serving in the Army Reserve and the National Guard, according to an Army spokesperson. His LinkedIn profile indicates that he became a remote and autonomous systems manager two months ago. On Facebook, Livelsberger posted in drone hobby groups showing off his projects. He asked fellow enthusiasts about which parts to use as he put together his own custom machines. He also criticized the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2021, calling it on social media the “biggest foreign-policy failure in the history of the United States.” The FBI, the ATF and the Colorado Springs Police Department served a search warrant Thursday morning at a home in Colorado Springs in connection with the explosion in Las Vegas. Federal authorities declined to provide additional details. Advertisement Investigators are looking into whether the driver deliberately targeted one of Trump’s properties using a Tesla vehicle. Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, is a close advisor to the president-elect. “There’s investigative activity taking place literally around the globe,” Las Vegas FBI Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans said. “At this particular time ... we have to focus on what we know and what we don’t know. 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’s because of this particular ideology or any of the reasoning behind it.” Times staff writers Terry Castleman and Laura J. Nelson contributed to this report. More to Read