Both the suspect in Wednesday’s deadly car attack in New Orleans and the suspect in the Las Vegas car bombing that same day had previously served at the same Army base and used the same carsharing app to obtain the vehicles they used, reports reveal.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar is suspected of driving into a crowd of New Year’s revelers, killing 15 people and injuring dozens more. Matthew Livelsberger has been identified as the suspect who detonated a Telsa Cybertruck in front of a Las Vegas hotel owned by President-elect Donald Trump, injuring six and killing himself.
“The Colorado Springs resident suspected of detonating a Tesla Cybertruck in front of a Las Vegas hotel and the Texas man accused of driving a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans served at the same military base,” Denver7 Investigates reports.
“The suspects in New Year's Day attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas each have ties to Cumberland County, according to public records and officials,” according to The Fayetteville Observer, noting that both men had served at Fort Bragg, now known as Fort Liberty, in Cumberland, North Carolina.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill confirmed the media reports at a press briefing on Thursday:
- Both men used the Turo carsharing app to rent the vehicles they used.
- Both men served in the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg.
- Both men served in Afghanistan.
While Sheriff McMahill said that he couldn’t yet either rule in or rule out any connection between the two suspects, he did characterize the similarities as “very strange.”