Tesla explosion at Trump Hotel: Soldier left 'wake-up call' notes

Says the US is 'terminally ill & headed towards collapse'

LAS VEGAS: A highly decorated Army soldier fatally shot himself in a Tesla Cybertruck just before it exploded outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day, leaving notes claiming the explosion was a stunt to act as a "wake-up call" for the country's ills, investigators said on Friday.

Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Green Beret from Colorado Springs, Colorado, also wrote 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 had served in the Army since 2006 and had 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 caused virtually no damage to the Trump International Hotel. Authorities stated that Livelsberger acted alone.