Critical Infrastructure Security

Las Vegas-area police are investigating a Feb. 19, 2026 crash at a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power substation near Boulder City, Nevada, as a "terrorism-related event" after a rented Nissan Sentra rammed the facility and its 23-year-old driver, Dawson Maloney of Albany, New York, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene. Sheriff Kevin McMahill said Maloney had messaged family about committing an act that would get him on the news, referred to himself as a terrorist, and was found wearing soft body armor with two shotguns, an assault-rifle-style pistol and flamethrowers in the car; explosives and multiple books on right- and left-wing, environmental, white-supremacist and anti-government extremism were recovered from his hotel room, and a 3D printer and gun components were seized from an Albany residence. The substation, which works with Hoover Dam to move power to the Los Angeles basin, sustained no major damage and caused no service disruptions, according to Boulder City’s police chief and LADWP, but the incident is being treated as a serious attempt to hit critical infrastructure. Maloney, an Albany Law School student and former Siena University honors student who had been reported missing, appears to have acted alone, and authorities say there is no ongoing threat to the public. The case comes amid a pattern of attempted attacks on energy facilities nationwide and is likely to intensify federal and industry concern about the vulnerability of substations and the role of self-radicalized individuals mixing multiple extremist ideologies.

Nevada authorities say 23‑year‑old Dawson Maloney of Albany, New York, intentionally rammed a rented car with New York plates through a secure gate at a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power facility near Boulder City around 10 a.m. Thursday, then died of a self‑inflicted gunshot while wearing soft body armor and holding a shotgun. Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said Maloney had told family he wanted to commit an act that would put him 'on the news,' messaged his mother describing himself as her 'dead terrorist son,' and mentioned feeling an 'obligation' to carry out his plan, prompting investigators to treat the case as a terrorism‑related event. Inside the vehicle, officers found two shotguns, an AR‑style pistol, multiple loaded AR magazines, shotgun shells, two flamethrowers loaded with thermite, and other tools; in his hotel room they recovered explosive precursors including thermite, ammonium nitrate, magnesium ribbon, metal pipes and gasoline, along with books spanning white supremacist, anti‑government, environmental and other extremist ideologies. Officials say industrial wire reels inside the yard stopped the car before it reached critical equipment and that there was no major damage or ongoing threat to the grid, while the FBI is forensically examining Maloney’s cellphone and continuing to assist local agencies. The incident adds to a pattern of plots and attacks targeting U.S. electrical substations and will sharpen questions in Washington about physical‑security standards and how to detect lone actors who self‑radicalize across multiple extremist narratives.