A green giant: This year's 74-foot Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is en route from Massachusetts

BOSTON (AP) — A giant Norway spruce that will serve as this year’s Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was en route to New York City on Thursday from its tiny Massachusetts hometown.

The 74-foot-high (23-meter-high) conifer, donated by a family that owned it, was cut down Thursday morning in West Stockbridge and hoisted onto a flatbed truck by crane. It will travel 140 miles (225 kilometers) to Rockefeller Center, where it will be erected on Saturday. The tree, to feature 50,000 multi-colored lights and a Swarovski star crown, will remain on display until mid-January.

Erik Pauze, the head gardener for Rockefeller Center responsible for finding the tree and helping transport it, said he first spotted this green giant back in 2020.

“I saw the beautiful Norway Spruce as I drove down the road, and it was right in front of me,” he was quoted by Rockefeller Center's newsletter as saying. “I knocked on the door and met Earl Albert. I asked if he would someday consider donating the Tree to Rockefeller Center. His answer was immediately yes.”

Shawn Albert, Earl Albert's daughter-in-law, recalled that Pauze stopped by two days after Earl Albert's wife, Lesley, had died. She said her father-in-law immediately agreed to donate the tree, taking it as a sign from Lesley, who loved Christmas. The family decorated the tree each year with Christmas lights.

The family couldn't have a funeral for Lesley Albert because of the pandemic, so Thursday's event, which included carolers sending off the tree, was a way to remember her, the Alberts said.

“She was such a huge part of the community,” Shawn Albert said in a video of the event provided by Rockefeller Center. “To me, this is like her gathering that we finally get to have and we finally get to honor her.”

Michael Albert, Shawn's husband and Lesley Albert's son, recalled that his mother was a nurse, and a “giving person" so that sharing the tree with the community made sense.

“Let it go to New York City and let the world see it," he said.

The first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree to come from Massachusetts since 1959, the towering spruce has drawn plenty of attention in West Stockbridge. Locals and tourist alike have flocked to see the 11-ton (10-metric ton) tree in recent days, as workers high up in the canopy prepped it for its trip to New York.

On Thursday, several dozen people, some dressed as Santa Claus, watched from behind a barrier as workers felled the tree.

Michael and Tania Hardinger, tourists from Denmark, flew into New York and made the drive north to see the tree last weekend, before it was cut down.

Hardinger said the trip was inspired by their love of Christmas, with the family having two and sometimes three Christmas trees in their house in Copenhagen. Both musicians, they will return to Denmark to play a few concerts before coming back to New York to do some Christmas shopping and visit the tree again, this time at Rockefeller Center.

“We’re big on Christmas and the Rockefeller tree is something we must see every year,” Hardinger said. “It’s so beautiful and it’s fantastic."

A Norway Spruce that will serve as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is placed on a flatbed, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 in West Stockbridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Matthew Cavanaugh)

A Norway Spruce that will serve as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is placed on a flatbed, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 in West Stockbridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Matthew Cavanaugh)

Workers are seen inside the branches of a Norway Spruce that will serve as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is readied to be cut down and lowered with a crane on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 in West Stockbridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Matthew Cavanaugh)

A Norway Spruce that will serve as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is cut down, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 in West Stockbridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Matthew Cavanaugh)

A Norway Spruce that will serve as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is cut down, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 in West Stockbridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Matthew Cavanaugh)

A Norway Spruce that will serve as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is cut down, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 in West Stockbridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Matthew Cavanaugh)

A Norway Spruce that will serve as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is cut down, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 in West Stockbridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Matthew Cavanaugh)

A Norway Spruce that will serve as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is cut down, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 in West Stockbridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Matthew Cavanaugh)

A Norway Spruce that will serve as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is cut down, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 in West Stockbridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Matthew Cavanaugh)

A Norway Spruce that will serve as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is cut down, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 in West Stockbridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Matthew Cavanaugh)

A Norway Spruce that will serve as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is placed on a flatbed, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 in West Stockbridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Matthew Cavanaugh)

A Norway Spruce that will serve as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is placed on a flatbed, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 in West Stockbridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Matthew Cavanaugh)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The person inside the Tesla Cybertruck that burst into flames outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel suffered a gunshot to the head before the explosion, officials said Thursday.

Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference that a handgun was found at the feet of the man who's been identified as Matthew Livelsberger. Officials believe the shot was self-inflicted.

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.

He 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.

The FBI said Thursday in a post on X that it was “conducting law enforcement activity” at a home in Colorado Springs related to Wednesday's explosion but provided no other details.

The explosion of the truck, packed with firework mortars and camp fuel canisters, came hours after 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 15 people before being shot to death by police. That crash was being investigated as a terrorist attack. The FBI said Thursday that they believe Jabbar acted alone, reversing its position from a day earlier that he likely worked with others.

Both Livelsberger and Jabbar spent time at the base formerly known as Fort Bragg, a massive Army base in North Carolina that is home to multiple Army special operations units. However, one of the officials who spoke to the AP said there is no overlap in their assignments at the base, now called Fort Liberty.

Chris Raia, FBI deputy assistant director, said Thursday that officials have found ‘no definitive link’ between the New Orleans attack and the truck explosion in Las Vegas.

Seven people nearby suffered minor injuries when the Tesla truck exploded. 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.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday afternoon on X that “we have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself."

"All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion,” Musk wrote.

Musk has recently become a member of Trump’s inner circle. Neither Trump nor Musk was in Las Vegas early Wednesday. Both had attended Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at his South Florida estate.

Authorities know who rented the truck with the Turo app in Colorado, Kevin McMahill, the elected sheriff of Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, said Wednesday. He did not release the person’s ID, however.

Copp, Richer and Long contributed from Washington.

Investigators enter a townhouse in northeastern Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, as the investigation connected to the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside President-elect Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel continues. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP)

Investigators stand outside a townhouse complex in northeastern Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, as the investigation connected to the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside President-elect Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel continues. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP)

Police block the area after a vehicle caught fire and exploded outside the lobby of President-elect Donald Trump's hotel Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)

Police block the area after a vehicle caught fire and exploded outside the lobby of President-elect Donald Trump's hotel Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)

Police block the area after a vehicle caught fire and exploded outside the lobby of President-elect Donald Trump's hotel Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)

Police block the area after a vehicle caught fire and exploded outside the lobby of President-elect Donald Trump's hotel Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)