A 23-year-old law student from New York crashed his car into a power substation gate near Hoover Dam on Thursday before taking his own life.
Sheriff McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department described the event as “terrorism-related.” He noted that in Dawson Maloney’s hotel room, authorities discovered books tied to extremist ideologies spanning right and left-wing extremism, environmental extremism, white supremacy, and anti-government views.
The investigation revealed several firearms in Maloney’s rental car. Witnesses reported hearing gunshots shortly after the crash, which occurred around 10 a.m. Sheriff McMahill mentioned that one bullet had pierced Maloney’s windshield.
“A search of the rental vehicle uncovered two shotguns, an AR-style pistol, numerous loaded AR magazines, a box of shotgun shells, two flamethrower-like devices, a crowbar, a hatchet, and a cell phone currently undergoing forensic analysis,” stated the sheriff. “The suspect was also wearing soft body armor at the time of the incident.”
Prior to the incident, Maloney had been reported missing in New York and communicated with his family moments before the tragic event.
“The suspect had made various statements about self-harm and hinted at committing an act that would land him ‘on the news,’” McMahill explained. “In a message to his mother, he described himself as a ‘dead terrorist son’ and expressed a perceived duty to carry out his act.”
Christopher Delzotto, the FBI special agent in charge in Las Vegas, said Maloney rented a vehicle on February 12 in New York and left the Albany area two days later en route to Nevada.
FBI agents searched two residences connected with Maloney in Albany, the Albany Times Union reported, and they recovered electronic devices, gun components, and a 3D printer.
Maloney was a member of the Albany Law School Class of 2027, the . A school spokesperson said they were “heartbroken” to learn of Maloney’s death and declined any further comment.
Boulder Dam is on the Colorado River, along the Nevada-Arizona state line about 35 miles south of Las Vegas.
