LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — New 911 calls released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on Thursday are giving us a firsthand look at what people saw and heard when a Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel on New Year's Day.
The 911 calls include accounts of at least a dozen people who saw or heard the explosion in real time. Here's what they reveal about the bombing:
'Huge, monster explosion'
"Someone just attacked Trump towers with a monster amount of fireworks — huge, a monster explosion," a man who called 911 told dispatchers.
"It's a huge explosion, a monster explosion at the Trump tower right in front of the valet," he continued. "The whole place is covered in smoke. It sounds like a monster amount of fireworks with big explosions. People have to be injured. I was close to the Fashion Show [Mall] and things were flying at me...It is an attack, for sure. You can't see anything. Everything is covered in smoke.
"Ma'am, this is the craziest thing I've ever seen," he tells the dispatcher. "Someone must have had a monster box of fireworks, but ma'am, if I can just tell you, the boom sounded like a mini-bomb. I hope no one is hurt."
LISTEN: Hear the first 911 call reporting the explosion outside Trump hotel [Warning: This clip includes brief uses of adult language. Listen at your discretion.]
"What do you mean by explosion?"
Another witness called 911 to report what they saw, telling the dispatcher, "There's an explosion at the Trump hotel."
"What do you mean by explosion?" the dispatcher asked.
"Not quite sure; it's in their valet, and it's going off and there's smoke everywhere," the caller said.
"Is it fireworks?" the dispatcher asked.
"It looks like a combination of both. Like, there's an active fire in front of the Trump hotel, in their valet."
The caller couldn't immediately identify what kind of car it was, telling the dispatcher, "I'm trying to see if it's an electrical car or not because I know..."
"OK, don't get too close to the vehicle," the dispatcher warned. When the call was transferred to the fire department, another dispatcher said crews were already on the way.
"OK, are we fine?"
Another 911 caller staying in the Trump International Hotel reported hearing the explosion and worried for her safety.
"I'm just staying at the Trump hotel here in Las Vegas," she told the dispatcher, "and a really big explosion-y noise just went off and I can see all this smoke from my room and I don't know if anyone else has called in about it but—"
"We have that call," the dispatcher tells her. "Did you see who did it?"
"No, I have no idea," the woman says. "OK, are we fine? Like, do I just stay in my room? I just, I have little kids, like, I don't want anything—"
The dispatcher tells her to call hotel security, assuring her that first responders are on the way. "We just need information if you have suspect information," the dispatcher says, but the woman says she didn't see what happened.
Las Vegas Police and the FBI have since characterized the attack as a suicide bombing, identifying the driver as 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger, a Green Beret who served nine deployments in his career with the U.S. Army.
In the days since the explosion, investigators have revealed more about what they believe led to the attack, including additional surveillance video, materials recovered from Livelsberger's phone, and evidence that the generative AI platform ChatGPT was used to help Livelsberger coordinate his plans.
