The active-duty Green Beret who drove a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year’s Day “was a 100 percent patriot,” his confused uncle said Thursday.

Matthew Livelsberger, 37, was “like a Rambo guy, for lack of a better word,” Dean Livelsberger said The Independent.

Dean, whose older brother is Livelsberger’s father Roger, himself an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, said his nephew “loved the Army.”

“He used to have all the patriotic stuff on Facebook, he loved the country 100 percent,” he continued. “He loved Trump and he was always a very, very patriotic soldier, a patriotic American. That’s one of the reasons he was in the special forces for so many years. It wasn’t just one business trip.”

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Dean Livelsberger said he knew about the Vegas explosion but had not yet been informed that Matt, as he called him, had been named as the perpetrator The Independent contacted him for comment. At first, Dean thought the explosion was caused by “one of those big lithium batteries that had shorted out or something,” he said. He was relieved that the explosion only caused seven minor injuries and killed no one. But, he added, the amateurish construction of the explosive device, a series of propane tanks, fireworks and camping fuel left him with a number of additional questions.

“Matt was a very skilled warrior, and if he had been and if he had done that, he would have been able to make a more complex explosive than propane tanks and camping fuel. He was what you might call a “super soldier.” If you ever read about the things he was given and the experience he gained, some of it doesn’t make sense when he had the skills and ability to do something more “efficient.” His skills were tremendous compared to what he had been taught in the military.”

With Livelsberger’s skills, his uncle suggested, his nephew “could have built a bomb that would have wiped out half the hotel if he wanted to seriously harm others.”

“Think about Oklahoma City,” he said. “McVeigh was just a normal soldier. Not a Tier 1 operator like Matt.”

Livelsberger served in the U.S. Army for 19 years, including 18 years in the elite special forces. He was currently stationed in Germany and was on leave in Colorado Springs when he rented the Cybertruck and drove to Nevada, law enforcement sources said.

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The truck exploded just hours after Shamsud-Din Jabbar rammed a truck into New Year’s revelers in New Orleans, killing at least 15 people. Jabbar, 42, was also an Army veteran who was stationed at the same base as Livelsberger and served in Afghanistan around the same time as Livelsberger. Investigators were looking into a possible connection between the two men, who both rented their vehicles through the same car-sharing service, Turo, but have not yet found a “direct” connection between the two.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the coroner’s office determined that Livelsberger “suffered a gunshot wound to the head prior to the vehicle detonation.” And while the investigation is ongoing, he believed Livelsberger’s actions pointed to “a suicide followed by an immediate bombing” rather than a “suicide mission.”

Livelsberger’s military ID and passport were found in the Cybertruck, as well as a .50 caliber Desert Eagle semi-automatic pistol and an SLR Rifleworks B30. Both weapons and Livelsberger himself were burned “almost beyond recognition,” McMahill said. He said investigators also seized a stash of fireworks, as well as an iPhone, a smartwatch and several credit cards in Livelsberger’s name.

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Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans of the FBI’s Las Vegas Division said agents tracked the vehicle from Denver to Tesla charging stations in Arizona and New Mexico before it arrived in Vegas at 7:29 a.m. Wednesday.

Kenny Cooper, assistant special agent in charge of the San Francisco Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, said it remains unclear how the explosives were detonated. He noted that everything used was consumer grade, such as the camping fuel and propane tanks, in addition to “some explosive targets that can be purchased at any sporting goods store.” Both firearms in the Cybertruck had been legally purchased two days earlier, on December 30th. Cooper also noted, echoing Dean Livelsberger, that “the level of sophistication is not what we would expect from a person with this type of military experience.”

Livelsberger divorced his first wife several years ago, who now lives in South Florida with her new husband. According to Dean, Livelsberger shares a newborn with his new partner and posted a picture on Facebook in September of himself cradling the baby in his arms. In recent months, a number of photos Livelsberger posted from Germany “disappeared,” including pictures of him proposing to his partner and the ring he gave her, his uncle said.

Livelsberger’s father, who could not be reached Thursday, was married “several times” and had children with “a few different women,” according to Dean Livelsberger, who has been estranged from his brother for years.

At the same time, Dean said, “Matt wasn’t estranged from the family at all. Everyone was thinking about Matt’s world.”