SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Victor Wembanyama closed out a historic month with 27 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three blocks in 26 minutes, and the San Antonio Spurs rolled to a 122-86 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday.
Wembanyama is the first player in league history with 300 points, 100 rebounds, 50 blocks, 50 assists and 40 3-pointers in a single month.
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San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama, center, collides with Los Angeles Clippers' James Harden during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
San Antonio Spurs' Jeremy Sochan (10) drives against Los Angeles Clippers' James Harden, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
Los Angeles Clippers' Kai Jones (23) tangles with San Antonio Spurs' Zach Collins, left, Keldon Johnson (0) and Tre Jones (33) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
Los Angeles Clippers' Kobe Brown, right, drives against San Antonio Spurs' Tre Jones (33) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama (1) moves to block a shot-attempt by Los Angeles Clippers' Ivica Zubac (40) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
Keldon Johnson added 17 points, and Stephon Castle had 15 for the Spurs.
Los Angeles had won three straight but were 11 for 41 on 3-pointers. James Harden led the Clippers with 17 points, and Norman Powell added 15.
Wembanyama had 17 points in the opening quarter, matching the Clippers total as a team. He only had four points in the second quarter, but two came on a dunk on a pass off the backboard from Chris Paul.
San Antonio captured a 25-point lead in the second quarter that swelled to 34 points in the fourth, enabling Wembanyama to exit from the contest with 8:39 remaining.
Clippers: Los Angeles center Ivica Zubac was held to five points on 2-for-7 shooting.
Spurs: San Antonio forward Jeremy Sochan did not play in the second half after injuring his lower back in the second quarter. He exited with 1:20 remaining in the first half with four points and five rebounds in 15 minutes.
Wembanyama reached back and stuffed Zubac under the rim with 9:47 remaining in the opening quarter. Wembanyama would get the ensuing inbounds pass from Paul and drilled his only 3 of the game.
Wembanyama has at least one block and one 3-pointer in 24 straight games, the longest streak in league history. He also has a block in 67 straight games.
The Clippers are at Oklahoma City on Thursday, and the Spurs are at Denver on Friday.
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San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama, center, collides with Los Angeles Clippers' James Harden during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
San Antonio Spurs' Jeremy Sochan (10) drives against Los Angeles Clippers' James Harden, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
Los Angeles Clippers' Kai Jones (23) tangles with San Antonio Spurs' Zach Collins, left, Keldon Johnson (0) and Tre Jones (33) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
Los Angeles Clippers' Kobe Brown, right, drives against San Antonio Spurs' Tre Jones (33) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama (1) moves to block a shot-attempt by Los Angeles Clippers' Ivica Zubac (40) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
A highly decorated Army soldier who died in an explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck at the Trump hotel in Las Vegas left a note saying it was stunt to serve as “wakeup call” for the country’s ills, investigators said Friday.
Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Green Beret from Colorado Springs, Colorado, also wrote in the note that he needed to “cleanse my mind” of the lives lost of people he knew and “the burden of the lives I took.”
Livelsberger apparently harbored no ill will toward President-elect Donald Trump, Clark County sheriff’s officials said.
“Although this incident is more public and more sensational than usual, it ultimately appears to be a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily decorated combat veteran who was struggling with PTSD and other issues,” FBI Special Agent In Charge Spencer Evans said at a news conference.
The explosion caused minor injuries to seven people but virtually no damage to the hotel.
“This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wakeup call. Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives,” Livelsberger wrote in a letter found by authorities who released only excerpts of it.
Investigators identified the Tesla driver — who was burned beyond recognition — as Livelsberger by a tattoo and by comparing DNA from relatives. The cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, according to coroners officials.
Pentagon officials have declined to say whether Livelsberger may have been suffering from mental health issues but say they have turned over his medical records to police.
The new details came as investigators sought to determine Livelsberger’s motive, including whether he sought to make a political point with the Tesla and the hotel bearing the president-elect’s name.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has recently become a member of President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle. Neither Trump nor Musk was in Las Vegas early Wednesday, the day of the explosion. Both had attended Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at his South Florida estate.
Musk spent an estimated $250 million during the presidential campaign to support Trump, who has named Musk, the world’s richest man, to co-lead a new effort to find ways to cut the government’s size and spending.
Investigators suspect Livelsberger may have been planning a more damaging attack but the steel-sided vehicle absorbed much of the force from the crudely built explosive.
Investigators said previously that Livelsberger shot himself in the head inside the Tesla Cybertruck packed with fireworks just before it exploded outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day.
“It’s not lost on us that it’s in front of the Trump building, that it’s a Tesla vehicle, but we don’t have information at this point that definitively tells us or suggests it was because of this particular ideology,” Spencer Evans, the Las Vegas FBI’s special agent in charge, said Thursday at a news conference.
Asked Friday about whether Livelsberger had been struggling with any mental health issues that may have prompted his suicide, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters that “the department has turned over all medical records to local law enforcement.”
A law enforcement official said investigators learned through interviews that he may have gotten into a fight with his wife about relationship issues shortly before he rented the Tesla on Saturday and bought the guns. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Authorities are still working to determine a motive. Among the charred items found inside the truck were a handgun at Livelsberger’s feet, another firearm, fireworks, a passport, a military ID, credit cards, an iPhone and a smartwatch, McMahill said. Authorities said both guns were purchased legally.
Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to counter terrorism abroad and train partners. 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 had recently returned from an overseas assignment in Germany and was on approved leave when he died, according to a U.S. official.
He was awarded a total of five Bronze Stars, including one with a valor device for courage under fire, a combat infantry badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valor.
Authorities searched a townhouse in Livelsberger's hometown Thursday as part of the investigation. Neighbors said the man who lived there had a wife and a baby.
Cindy Helwig, who lives diagonally across a narrow street separating the homes, said she last saw the man she knew as Matthew about two weeks ago when he asked her if he could borrow a tool he needed to fix an SUV he was working on.
“He was a normal guy,” said Helwig, who said she last saw the wife and baby earlier this week.
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 14 people before being shot to death by police. The FBI says they believe Jabbar acted alone and that it is being investigated as a terrorist attack.
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.
Copp, Richer and Long reported from Washington. Contributing were Associated Press journalists Rio Yamat, Ken Ritter and Ty ONeil in Las Vegas; Colleen Slevin in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles.
A car drives out of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
Investigators search 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. (Parker Seibold /The Gazette via AP)
Investigators search the garbage outside of 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. (Parker Seibold /The Gazette via AP)
This undated photo, provided by the Las Vegas Police Department shows a passport belonging to Matthew Livelsberger, found inside a Tesla Cybertruck involved in an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)
A Tesla Cybertruck pulls into Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
This undated photo, provided by the Las Vegas Police Department shows items found inside a Tesla Cybertruck involved in an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)
This undated photo, provided by the Las Vegas Police Department shows a weapon found inside a Tesla Cybertruck involved in an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)
This undated photo, provided by the Las Vegas Police Department shows the Tesla Cybertruck involved in an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)
This undated photo, provided by the Las Vegas Police Department shows an ID belonging to Matthew Livelsberger, found inside a Tesla Cybertruck involved in an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)
