By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-07 12:45:31 | Updated at 2025-01-08 12:23:59
23 hours ago
The veteran who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas was affectionately known as the 'Candy Man' by local children he delivered toys to while serving in Afghanistan.
Special forces soldier Matthew Livelsberger, 37, shot himself in the head seconds before an improvised explosive detonated in the back of his rented truck on New Year's Day.
Sixteen years prior, Master Sgt. Livelsberger organized for 200 stuffed animals, 100 notebooks and 50 sets of crayons and pencils to be shipped from his native Ohio to Afghanistan, vowing to his hometown newspaper he would deliver them himself.
'I promise you it will be in the hands of a child in need that would not receive it otherwise,' Livelsberger wrote in an email to The Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum. 'The Afghan children are adventurous and playful, just as our children are.'
Fardin Fetwat, the interpreter with Livelsberger's unit in Afghanistan, told the Daily Beast that local children 'call[ed] him Candy Man' for his good deeds.
'He give it for the kids to be happy,' Fetwat told the outlet. 'He love the kids and the kids love him.'
Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to counter terrorism abroad and train partners, the Army said in a statement.
He had served in the Army since 2006, rising through the ranks with a long career of overseas assignments, deploying twice to Afghanistan and serving in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, the Army said.
Livelsberger was awarded two Bronze Stars, including one with a valor device for courage under fire, a combat infantry badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valor. Livelsberger was on approved leave when he died, according to the statement.
Livelsberger, a former Green Beret and active US Army Ranger, shot himself in the head seconds before an improvised explosive detonated in the back of his rented truck
A photo shared of Livelsberger from his days in the military
Fetwat recalled moving stories of Livelsberger's work while on tour in Afghanistan in 2009.
The translator said the soldier 'saved his life', shooting a 'bad guy' who had pointed his gun at him. Livelsberger told Fetwat to stay behind him.
Fetwat told the outlet how Livelsberger vowed to teach him to write in English, buying him a computer to study on with his own money.
Between missions he sat with Fetwat and taught him how to read and write.
He would also go on outings twice a week to cheer up Afghan locals - adults and children.
One time, the soldier found a wounded dog and nursed it back to health before trying to find it a home when he could not bring it back to the U.S., Fetwat remembered fondly.
When Fetwat was granted a visa to move to the U.S. with his family, he said Livelsberger made the effort to come and meet him, his wife and two young children at Denver Airport.
He looked after the family, booking them a hotel and finding them food, when they 'had nobody, no connection with anybody'.
Matthew had served in the Army since 2006, rising through the ranks with a long career of overseas assignments
The remains of a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas
Fetwat said that the soldier continued to offer help navigating American bureaucracy.
He said that he last saw Livelsberger in 2017, noting that at the time he seemed to be having trouble in his personal life, leading to a divorce.
Alicia Arritt, an ex-girlfriend he started dating a year later, said previously that Livelsberger was showing signs of PTSD from as early as 2018.
The pair met on a dating app after Livelsberger separated from his first wife, and dated for three years before he remarried.
'He described all the same symptoms as a textbook,' she told 11 News, revealing she'd seen PTSD in veterans in her role as an Army nurse.
'In 2020, he was having paranoia and nightmares. He was exhausted and depressed. He was gaining weight and he couldn't think.'
There are avenues to get help within the military, but Arritt said there is still a lot of stigma attached with mental health conditions, particularly in the high-level unit Livelsberger was a part of.
'If he got flagged for having depression or having a TBI, he would've been made non-deployable and he absolutely did not want that. He wanted to be there for his guys,' Arritt said.
Livelsberger was an active duty special forces soldier at the time of the Cybertruck explosion.
He had reached out to Arritt in the days before his death to show off the rented vehicle, joking he felt like Batman.
Flames rise from a Tesla Cybertruck after it exploded outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., January 1
'I rented a Tesla Cybertruck. It's the s**t,' he text Alicia Arritt at 9am on Sunday. 'I feel like Batman or halo'
Seven people nearby suffered minor injuries when the Tesla truck exploded on New Year's Day.
Video showed a tumble of charred fireworks mortars, canisters and other explosive devices crowded into the back of the pickup.
The truck bed walls were still intact because the blast shot straight up rather than to the sides.
Notes recorded on Livelsberger's phone and recovered by police made clear his motive was not terrorism or violence, just to draw attention to his manifesto.
