Active Shooter Dies in Lethal UNLV Incident

(UnitedHeadlines.com) – On Dec. 6, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, police responded to an active shooter at the college’s business school. The shooting left three faculty members dead and one injured, and the suspected shooter was killed by police.

On Twitter, UNLV posted that police were responding to an active shooter at Frank and Estella Beam Hall. The post alerted those on campus that this was “not a test,” along with the words “RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.”

According to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill, the first 911 calls came in at 11:45 a.m. The suspect, identified as Anthony Polito, 67, was killed by two UNLV detectives who responded to the call, according to police. The two detectives engaged the alleged shooter, fired their weapons, and killed the suspect. Following the shooting, McMahill said that the suspect was dead and there was no further threat to the community.

At the time of the shooting, a group of students was gathered outside the business school, marking the end of the term with games and a picnic.

In a statement, McMahill said “the heroic actions” of responding officers saved lives. He added that the “armed confrontation of the suspect” by the responding law enforcement offices “stopped the suspect’s further actions.”

Two of the three victims killed have been identified as Cha Jan “Jerry” Chang, 64 and Patricia Navarro-Velez, 39. The fourth victim remains hospitalized in stable condition. Two police officers were treated for minor injuries they received while searching campus rooms and buildings.

Polito, a professor, had recently been rejected for a job at the university. According to McMahill, Polito had a list of people he was targeting that included faculty at UNLV and faculty at East Carolina University, where he worked at one time. Students did not appear to be the target of the shooting, according to two law enforcement officials.

Before the shooting, Polito sent letters with no return address to some employees of UNLV across the United States, McMahill said. Though the content of the letters remains unknown, McMahill stated at least one contained an “unknown white powder substance.”