The suspect, Matthew Alan Livelsberger, was a member of the elite Special Forces “Green Berets”. He committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in a car loaded with fuel tanks and pyrotechnics, which then caught fire and exploded.
The soldier had a gunshot wound to the head and a handgun was found at his feet, officials told reporters at a news conference in Las Vegas.
“[Viņa rīcības] the motive is currently unknown,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans. The incident is being investigated as a possible terrorist attack.
Video footage outside the Trump International Hotel showed a stainless steel truck parked near the building’s glass entrance catching fire Wednesday morning, followed by small explosions similar to firecrackers.
Seven people were injured in the explosion.
The hotel named after Donald Trump, which opened in 2008, is partly owned by his family business.
Evans said FBI agents “didn’t miss” the incident’s connection to the newly elected US president and the fact that Tesla is owned by Trump supporter Elon Musk.
“However, we don’t have any information at this time that would definitively indicate” that the soldier’s actions were motivated by any ideology, Evans said.
Although the body was burned beyond recognition, it was identified by the soldier’s ID card, passport and credit cards.
Livelsberger rented the car in Colorado on Dec. 28 and drove it alone through Arizona and New Mexico to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he arrived on Jan. 1, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said.
The soldier had served in Germany for some time and was sent to Afghanistan in 2009. He had received several Bronze Star medals, including one for bravery, and was on accepted leave at the time of his death.
Authorities also confirmed that Livelsberger had purchased two semi-automatic handguns, both of which were found in the car bomb. One of them, with which he shot himself, was found at his feet.
The blast in Las Vegas came hours after a man drove a rented pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans on Wednesday, killing 14 and injuring dozens.
Investigators initially tried to establish a possible connection between the two incidents, but the FBI said Thursday that the New Orleans gunman acted alone and that the Las Vegas bombing was an “isolated” incident.
Both trucks were rented using the Turo app.