Police responded to an active shooter at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Wednesday.
According to the sheriff, campus police engaged the shooter outside of Frank and Estella Beam Hall, the college’s business school. At the time, there was a group of students outside the building playing games.
At around 11:45 a.m., the college posted an emergency notice on its website, saying that university police were responding to an active shooting near Beam Hall and advised all students to evacuate to a safe area. They later posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), that officers were responding to shots near the Student Union Building.
All students on the campus were ordered to take shelter for the next several hours as law enforcement officers confronted the shooter. They then worked to clear the buildings. The evacuation building was eventually lifted at 7:30 p.m. after it was confirmed that there was no longer an active threat on site.
In total, four individuals were wounded, three of whom later succumbed to their injuries. Four additional victims were taken to the hospital for panic attacks. Two police officers also received minor injuries while looking for victims.
By approximately 12:37 p.m., the police reported that the shooter was dead.
Kevin McMahill, the Las Vegas Metro Sheriff, announced in a subsequent news conference that the shooter’s identity would not be released until they have notified his family. However, he did reveal that he’s a 67-year-old career college professor, though he did not work at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Currently, police are working on identifying a motive and uncovering evidence. They also do not have any information on the weapon used at this time.
The campus shooting comes as students are in the middle of a one-week break before starting their final exams.
One student, who was having their breakfast outside the buildings, said they heard three ‘loud booms’ before officers showed up. They quickly ran inside, after which they heard more shots. They ended up staying in the basement with other students.
Another student, Brett Johnsen, was in class at the building, when he heard the gunshots. However, he noted that they ‘didn’t sound like gunshots’ and that his professor didn’t stop the lecture and continued to teach.
Not long afterward, an alarm came on – one that sounded different from the fire alarm. Everyone in the lecture immediately began to pack their things.
As soon as the professor opened the door to let them out, however, his face was filled with panic. He immediately told everyone to get back inside, lock the doors, and lay on the ground.
After 30 seconds, the professor went outside to check on the situation. He then told everyone to run as fast as they could.
The 80th Shooting at a US School This Year
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been over 631 mass shootings in the U.S., this year, 80 of which took place at a school.
Of those, 51 were reported on K-12 campuses while 29 took place on college and university campuses.
The shooting at UNLV also occurred just a few miles from where the deadliest modern US mass shooting took place, at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, The incident had left 58 people dead with more than hundreds wounded.
