Law enforcement officials in Las Vegas said Thursday that the suspected driver of a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded on New Year’s Day in front of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head before the explosion, which injured seven other people.

At a press conference, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said that officials who searched the truck had recovered a military identification and passport belonging to Matthew Alan Livelsberger, the man suspected of carrying out the attack, as well as an iPhone, smartwatch, multiple firearms and fireworks.

McMahill was said that the body of the person inside the truck was “burnt beyond recognition,” and noted that he would continue to refer to that person as the “subject” or “person of interest” until he had DNA or other medical records confirming that the body belonged to Livelsberger.

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The FBI searched a Colorado Springs, Colo., residence Wednesday night associated with Livelsberger, Denver 7 News reported.

Agents with the Denver Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Colorado Springs Police Department assisted in the search of the property. The FBI is investigating whether the incident was an act of terrorism and whether there is any connection between Livelsberger, a former U.S. Army Green Beret, and Shamsud-Din Jabbar, another U.S. citizen and former Army veteran who drove a truck into a crowd of people in New Orleans the same day, killing at least 14 and insuring dozens.

Here’s what we know about Livelsberger and the attack so far.

The attack

Livelsberger rented a Tesla Cybertruck in Colorado using the Turo app and drove it to Las Vegas, stopping along the way to charge the vehicle, according to McMahill.

At 8:40 a.m. local time on New Year’s Day, he detonated the vehicle, which was packed with firework mortars and camp fuel canisters. It was initially reported that Livelsberger died in the explosion, which also resulted in what have been described as minor injuries to seven other people. However, McMahill said Thursday that the body found inside the vehicle had sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head just before the truck was detonated.

Military background

Livelsberger, 37, was a married U.S. Army veteran who, according to his LinkedIn profile, had spent 18 years with the Special Forces. He joined the Green Berets as a communications specialist in 2006. In 2012, he resumed active duty, joining the U.S. Army Special Operations, Axios reported, and was on approved leave when he died.

During his military career, Livelsberger served tours in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, the U.S. Army confirmed to the Associated Press. He was also a highly decorated soldier, awarded two Bronze Stars, a combat infantry badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valor.

On Thursday, the FBI said that it had found “no definitive link” between Livelsberger and Jabbar, 42, but there are some striking similarities.

Both men were stationed at the North Carolina military base formerly known as Fort Bragg, where some Army special operations units are trained. A military official who spoke with the Associated Press said there had been no overlap in the assignments of the two men at the base.

Jabbar, who said in a video that he had joined ISIS last summer, served in the U.S. Army from 2006 to 2015, and in the Army Reserve from 2015 to 2020, Defense Department officials told NBC News. Like Livelsberger, Jabar served in Afghanistan during the U.S. troop surge there in 2009.

And like Livelsberger, Jabbar also used the Turo app to rent the Ford F-150 pickup truck that he drove from Houston to New Orleans.

“We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat,” a spokesperson for Turo said in a statement.

Both trucks contained explosive materials, though Jabbar, according to the FBI, had planted two improvised explosive devices in coolers: one that was found at the intersection of Bourbon and Orleans streets and one at another intersection about two blocks away from where he rammed his truck into bystanders.