Three people were killed and one wounded on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus.

The gunman has been identified as 67 year old, Anthony Polito, the original motive was that Polito applied for a teaching job at the university, and the shooting was the cause of him not recieving the job. 

Anthony Polito was a previous professor at the Eastern Carolina University.

According to a NBC NEWS article officials have come out with a statement saying that Polito had not applied for a job at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, making his motive unclear. Polito was shot and killed by law enforcement officers after a confrontation out the university. 

Polito used a Taurus PT92 pistol, which was purchased 18 months prior in Las Vegas. After Polito was killed in a shootout, police discovered a list of names of people that “he was seeking” at UNLV and ECU, through none of those listed were victims of the shooting. Authorities also discovered an eviction notice on the door of Polito’s apartment. Kevin McMahill, Las Vegas Sheriff discovered that Polito was struggling financially” and left behind a document similar to a “last will and testament”.

He also left entries on his website, it was unclear is they were new entries or not.

Polito would flaunt his status as a Mensa member (Mensa is an organization of individuals with high IQs that aims to identify, understand, and support intelligence; encourage research into intelligence; and create and seek both social and intellectual experiences for its members.)

Polito also claimed that he had decoded parts of the Zodiac killer’s letters, and said he was denied jobs at the CIA, NSA, and DIA.

The tragedy began on the fourth floor of Beam Hall and continued to “multiple” other floors before Polito was “neutralized,” Las Vegas Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill said.  

In a BBC News article it was said that the police have not identified the victims, but US media reports saying that none of the victims were students. 

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is just two miles from the “world-famous” Las Vegas Strip, which will be closed on Thursday and Friday. 

As written in a CNN Article, published on December 7, 2023, This mass shooting comes around as students are getting ready for their final exams and to head off to winter break. Not only is this a tramatic event but this is another mass shooting that has happened in same city that suffered the Harvent Music Festival shooting where 58 people were killed, and more than 500 were injured. This was the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

The University posted an emergancy notice online at 11:54 a.m. local time, saying, “University Police responding to report of shots fire in BEH evacuate to a safe area, RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.” The university also posted on X that police were responding to “additional report of shots fired in the Student Union,” and advised the students and facaulty to evacuate the area.

This mass shooting has made it the 80th this year in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive. There have been 80 US school shootings so far this year, according to a CNN analysis. Of those 80, 51 shootings have taken place at k-12 campuses and 29 on university and college campuses.

The three victims were deceaced at the scene while one of the victims have been taken to The Sunrise Hospital trauma center. The hospital activated its mass casualty protocol when they got word of the event. One victim suffered a gunshot wound and was taken to a local hospital. This person was initally listed as critical condition, and later advanced to stable condition, according to Sheriff Kevin McMahill, of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

The three victims that were killed were Professor Jerry Chang, Assistant Professor Patricia Navarro-Velez, and the third victim, who was also faculty, is unnamed until their family is notified

McMahill held a press conference that the first 911 calls were placed at 11:45 a.m. He said that two police officers were treated for minor injuries from searching campus rooms and buildings. Two detectices who initally responded engaged with Polito and fired their weapons, and the suspect was killed.