Vegas Police Probe Terrorism After NY Law Student Crashes Into Power Station

Las Vegas authorities are treating a vehicle crash into a power substation as a terrorism incident after a 23-year-old Albany Law School student drove into the facility and died by suicide. Police discovered explosive materials, weapons, and extremist literature in the suspect's possession.

Authorities in Las Vegas are treating Thursday’s vehicle crash into an electrical substation as an act of terrorism, officials announced during a Friday press briefing.

Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department assured residents that no continuing danger exists to the community following the incident.

Emergency dispatchers received a report at 10 a.m. Thursday about a vehicle that had crashed through security barriers at the electrical facility in Boulder City, situated roughly 25 miles southeast of Las Vegas, McMahill explained.

The vehicle’s operator was identified as 23-year-old Dawson Maloney of Albany, New York, who had been reported as a missing person and took his own life with a firearm, the sheriff stated.

Before the incident occurred, Maloney had contacted relatives, discussing intentions of self-harm and stating he planned to carry out an action that would make him newsworthy. In communications with his mother, he described himself using terrorist terminology, police revealed.

Investigators discovered explosive devices and numerous publications “related to extremist ideologies” inside Maloney’s hotel accommodation, McMahill reported. The materials covered various radical viewpoints including right-wing and left-wing extremism, environmental extremism, white supremacist beliefs, and anti-government philosophies.

“These findings significantly elevate the seriousness of this incident,” McMahill stated.

Records show Maloney was enrolled as a student at Albany Law School in the class of 2027. He had also achieved honors recognition during multiple terms at Siena University in New York.

Law enforcement recovered two shotguns, a pistol resembling an assault rifle, and flamethrowers from his rented vehicle, McMahill noted. Maloney was dressed in what officers characterized as “soft-body armor.”

A search of an Albany residence yielded a 3D printing device and various firearm components necessary for weapon assembly. Maloney had traveled by rental car from Albany to Boulder City, according to Christopher Delzano, the FBI’s Las Vegas special agent-in-charge.

Boulder City is a historical community that houses the Hoover Dam, recognized as one of America’s remarkable civil engineering achievements. The dam supplies water to millions of residents and produces approximately 4 billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric energy annually for Nevada, Arizona and California.

The targeted electrical substation belongs to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The installation operates in coordination with Hoover Dam and transmits electricity to the Los Angeles metropolitan area, McMahill explained. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power confirmed to The Associated Press that it is monitoring the situation, with no operational impacts or service interruptions reported.

Boulder City Police Chief Timothy Shea confirmed that investigators found no evidence of significant damage to essential infrastructure and no utility service disruptions occurred.

A comparable event took place in 2023 when an individual drove a vehicle through barriers at a solar energy installation in the desert northeast of Las Vegas, igniting the car. The solar facility provided power to Las Vegas Strip gambling establishments. That perpetrator was deemed mentally incompetent for trial. The attack followed multiple incidents and arrests involving electrical substations across Washington, Oregon and North Carolina, raising federal concerns about electricity transmission network security.

“We are heartbroken to hear of the tragic passing of one of our law students, Dawson Maloney, in an off-campus incident,” said Tom Torello, director of communications and marketing at Albany Law School, in a statement.