Las Vegas cops investigating car-ramming at power substation as potential terrorism

Las Vegas police say they’re investigating a car that rammed into a power substation as a ” terrorism-related event.”

There’s no ongoing threat to the public, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill says during a news conference.

The driver of the vehicle was 23-year-old Dawson Maloney from Albany, New York, who was reported missing and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, McMahill says.

The man had communicated with family before the crash, referencing self-harm, and said he was going to commit an act that would place him on the news. He referred to himself as a terrorist in a message sent to his mother, according to police.

Authorities found explosive materials and multiple books “related to extremist ideologies” in Maloney’s hotel room, McMahill says. The books included ones about right- and left-wing extremism, environmental extremism, white supremacism and anti-government ideology, he says.

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

Maloney is listed as a student at Albany Law School in the class of 2027. He was also an honors student for multiple semesters at Siena University, located in New York.

Two shotguns, an assault rifle-style pistol, and flame throwers were found in his rental car, McMahill says. Maloney was wearing what police describe as “soft-body armor.”

Authorities recovered a 3D printer and several gun components needed to assemble a firearm from an Albany residence.