Albany Law student Dawson Maloney is dead, following an apparent terror attack on a substation in the Hoover Dam power generation system.
Maloney, a 2L, rented a car in New York, embarking on Valentine’s Day for a cross-country trip to Boulder City, Nevada. Armed with “two shotguns, an assault rifle-style pistol, and flame throwers,” Maloney rammed the rented Nissan Sentra through the gate of a power substation owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The substation was not damaged in the attack.
Because it was a Nissan Sentra.
Maloney had sent recent messages to his family about plans to do something that would make the news and at one point referring to himself as a terrorist. Albany Law School released a statement saying they were “heartbroken to hear of the tragic passing of one of our law students, Dawson Maloney, in an off-campus incident.”
Hoover Dam and its affiliated infrastructure have drawn attacks in the past. Nazis tried to destroy the dam’s intake towers in 1939. In 2020, a guy used a rifle and an armored truck to block the bridge over the dam to show his support for QAnon.
Maloney’s motive is less clear as he seems to have read an eclectic selection of ideologies. A hotel room search uncovered explosive materials — suggesting Maloney harbored plans for more attacks — and a “smorgasbord of radical literature.” According to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill, the works spanned right-wing extremism, left-wing extremism, environmental extremism, white supremacy, and anti-government ideologies. Though, in fairness, to the police, those could just be his law school textbooks.
It is a reminder to keep vigilant about radicalization these days. There’s a glut of misinformation and propaganda out there — some of it being pushed by the people who own social media platforms — and it’s easy for folks to lose a sense of grounding, even if they have the advantages that come with being in law school.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
The post Law Student Attempts Terrorist Attack On Hoover Dam System appeared first on Above the Law.
Albany Law student Dawson Maloney is dead, following an apparent terror attack on a substation in the Hoover Dam power generation system.
Maloney, a 2L, rented a car in New York, embarking on Valentine’s Day for a cross-country trip to Boulder City, Nevada. Armed with “two shotguns, an assault rifle-style pistol, and flame throwers,” Maloney rammed the rented Nissan Sentra through the gate of a power substation owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The substation was not damaged in the attack.
Because it was a Nissan Sentra.
Maloney had sent recent messages to his family about plans to do something that would make the news and at one point referring to himself as a terrorist. Albany Law School released a statement saying they were “heartbroken to hear of the tragic passing of one of our law students, Dawson Maloney, in an off-campus incident.”
Hoover Dam and its affiliated infrastructure have drawn attacks in the past. Nazis tried to destroy the dam’s intake towers in 1939. In 2020, a guy used a rifle and an armored truck to block the bridge over the dam to show his support for QAnon.
Maloney’s motive is less clear as he seems to have read an eclectic selection of ideologies. A hotel room search uncovered explosive materials — suggesting Maloney harbored plans for more attacks — and a “smorgasbord of radical literature.” According to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill, the works spanned right-wing extremism, left-wing extremism, environmental extremism, white supremacy, and anti-government ideologies. Though, in fairness, to the police, those could just be his law school textbooks.
It is a reminder to keep vigilant about radicalization these days. There’s a glut of misinformation and propaganda out there — some of it being pushed by the people who own social media platforms — and it’s easy for folks to lose a sense of grounding, even if they have the advantages that come with being in law school.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
The post Law Student Attempts Terrorist Attack On Hoover Dam System appeared first on Above the Law.
