The explosion happened just a few hours after a man drove a pickup truck into New Year revellers on the crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, killing 14 people and injuring dozens of others.
That attacker has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old US citizen who also served in the US Army.
President Joe Biden has said investigators are looking into whether the two incidents are linked, though so far nothing has been uncovered to suggest that is the case.
But the question continues to be fuelled by the apparent similarities between the two incidents and some biographical details of the drivers of both vehicles.
Both incidents happened in the early hours of New Year’s Day. Both men served in the US armed forces – including at the Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) military base in North Carolina – and both completed a tour in Afghanistan. Both men also rented the vehicles they used through a mobile car rental application called Turo.
However, police have said there is no evidence the two men were in the same unit or served at the same time at Fort Liberty. Although both were deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, there is no evidence they served in the same province, location or unit.
In the New Orleans attack, police recovered an Islamic State (IS) group flag from the vehicle used by Jabbar. They added that he posted videos to social media moments prior claiming allegiance to the group. Police have determined that Jabbar was acting alone.
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, there is no evidence that suggests that Livelsberger was motivated by IS, or that he and Jabbar had ever been in contact. Police have cautioned that the investigation remains active.