The accused in both the attacks on New Year in America turned out to be ex-soldiers, both used rented cars as weapons.

While the whole world celebrated the New Year with pomp and show and welcomed 2025 with fireworks, panic, and fear were seen in America on the very first day of the New Year. There were attacks at not one but two places in the country on the very first day of the New Year. About 14 people died and many were injured in this attack. Many interesting common points are visible in both these attacks in America, the accused have been in the US Army and the vehicles were also rented from the same place.

In America, an attack took place in New Orleans, where a pickup truck entered the crowd and crushed many people. 14 people died in this attack and about 30 people were injured. The second attack took place in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. 7 people were injured in this attack.

Explosion in one place, crushing in another

Shortly after the attack in New Orleans, an attack was also reported in Las Vegas, where a Tesla truck exploded this explosion took place right in front of the Trump Hotel, where the truck immediately caught fire and fire alarms started sounding in the hotel.

Las Vegas Police McMahill said the Cybertruck caught fire within 17 seconds of reaching the valet at the Trump International Hotel. The explosion was reported at around 8:40 am local time, seven people were injured in the attack. The hotel was evacuated immediately after the attack.

On the other hand, regarding this attack, Tesla owner Elon Musk said that we have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by a bomb placed in the Cybertruck and it has nothing to do with the vehicle.

las vegas attack

Many common points in both attacks

In the attack in New Orleans, the police immediately took action and shot the 42-year-old accused Shamsuddin Jabbar. The FBI is investigating this attack. According to the investigation, many revelations have been made about Jabbar. Jabbar was an American citizen and he had also served in the US Army. He was a former military IT specialist. Jabbar worked in the US Army from 2007 to 2015.

While the accused in New Orleans, Shamsuddin Jabbar, has been in the army, on the other hand, the accused in the second attack on the same day is also a former soldier of the US Army. He was a Green Beret of the US Army. According to some foreign media, the name of the accused has been reported as Matthew Alan Livelsberger.

Clark County/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the accused, Livelsberger (37), was a master sergeant in the US Army's Special Fortress Unit and a native of Colorado Springs.

An Army spokesman said Livelsberger was assigned to the US Army Special Operations Command and was on leave from his base in Germany. Livelsberger began serving in the Army in 2006, and then entered active duty in December 2012 and was a Green Beret after serving in the National Guard and Army Reserve.

Livelsberger has had a long tenure in the army, he was deployed to Congo in 2014, Ukraine in 2016, Tajikistan in 2016 and Afghanistan in 2017, 2018 and 2019. He was also given many honors in the army.

New Orleans Attack

Rented car turned into a weapon

While on one hand, the common factor between the two was their army background, the other point was that both of them used the vehicle as a weapon. While Jabbar attacked with a pickup truck, Livelsberger used a Tesla truck as a weapon. Another surprising thing is that both of them had rented the vehicle from the same app.

Officials informed on Wednesday that both the accused had rented vehicles from Turo company to carry out attacks in different parts of America. The company said in a statement that we do not believe that any of the people involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background, so they did not feel that giving them vehicles would pose any threat to the security of the country. However, the FBI official said that no connection has been found between the two attacks so far.

Authorities said Livelsberger rented the Tesla truck in Denver three days after Christmas and charged the electric truck near Colorado Springs on Monday. He charged it again in New Mexico and Arizona before arriving in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning.

Attack linked to ISIS

Jabbar, the accused in the New Orleans attack, is also being linked to ISIS. The FBI has found an ISIS flag in Jabbar's truck. Also, he had posted 5 videos supporting ISIS before the attack.