The two men behind the New Orleans and Las Vegas New Year’s Day attacks, Shamsud-Din Jabbar and Matthew Livelsberger, share a common link to Fort Bragg, now known as Fort Liberty, in North Carolina, where both were stationed during their military careers, the New York Post reported.
Jabbar, an Army veteran, served in the 82nd Airborne Division and was assigned to Fort Liberty in 2013. Livelsberger, an active-duty Green Beret at the time of his death, attended the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Liberty in 2006 as part of his Green Beret training.
Despite their connection to the same base and overlapping time in North Carolina — Jabbar in Fayetteville and Livelsberger in Charlotte — the FBI has stated that there is no known link between their attacks, which occurred just hours apart on New Year’s Day 2025.
The proximity in timing and their military backgrounds have prompted scrutiny, but no evidence suggests coordination or direct association.
Fort Liberty, one of the world’s largest military installations, is home to about 52,000 personnel, making any incidental overlap less remarkable in such a vast and transient population. Both men likely passed through the base as part of their respective military careers, but this alone does not establish a significant connection between them.
The base, renamed in 2023 from Fort Bragg as part of a federal effort to remove Confederate names from military installations, has a rich history and diverse population.
Authorities continue to investigate both incidents independently, focusing on the suspects’ motives, ideologies, and personal histories. While both attacks underscore concerns about radicalization among veterans, the current evidence does not indicate a coordinated effort between Jabbar and Livelsberger.
Jabbar, 42, drove a pickup truck into a crowd celebrating New Year’s on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, killing 14 people and injuring over 30. After crashing the vehicle, Jabbar exited and began firing an assault rifle, wounding two police officers before being fatally shot by law enforcement at the scene
Livelsberger, 37, shot himself just before the explosion at the Trump Las Vegas hotel, police said Thursday during a news conference.
Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said Livelsberger was found inside the vehicle with a “self-inflicted gunshot wound” to the head.
“It’s not lost on us that it happened in front of the Trump building and a Tesla vehicle was used,” said FBI Special Agent Spencer Evans. Elon Musk, a close ally of President-Elect Donald Trump, runs Tesla.
This ongoing investigation highlights the challenges of identifying and preventing acts of domestic terrorism while balancing the complex histories of individuals who have served in the military.