A 23-year-old law student from New York state rammed his vehicle into the gate of a power substation near Hoover Dam on Thursday and then shot himself.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff McMahill called the incident “terrorism-related,” saying that books found in a hotel room where Dawson Maloney was staying “related to extremist ideologies, including right and left wing extremism, environmental extremism, white supremacy and anti-government ideology”
McMahill said investigators found multiple firearms inside Maloney’s rental vehicle. A person who witnessed the incident, which took place at around 10 a.m., called police and reported hearing gunshots just after the crash, according to the sheriff, who said that one of those rounds was found through Maloney’s windshield.
“The search from the rental vehicle revealed two shotguns, an AR-style pistol, numerous loaded AR magazines … a box of shotgun shells, two devices … described as flamethrowers … a crowbar and a hatchet and a cellular phone, which is currently being forensically analyzed,” the sheriff said. “Additionally, we discovered the suspect was wearing soft body armor at the time of this incident.”
Maloney had been reported missing earlier in New York and communicated with family members just before the incident on Thursday.
“The suspect had made multiple statements referencing self-harm and alluding to committing an act that would place him ‘on the news,'” McMahill said. “In a message to his mother, the suspect referred to himself as a ‘dead terrorist son’ and stated he felt he had an obligation 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.
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[Featured image: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department]