UNLV gunman reported to be a professor who applied for a job
Washington Post
A former business professor who had sought a position at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas has been identified as the gunman in the campus shooting that left three staff members dead Wednesday, multiple news reports said.
Quoting unnamed law enforcement sources, the Associated Press and local television stations on Thursday identified the shooter as Anthony Polito, 67. They said he had taught in North Carolina and Georgia before unsuccessfully seeking a job at UNLV.
The names of two victims were confirmed Thursday afternoon by the Clark County coroner’s office. Patricia Navarro Velez, 39, who died of multiple gunshot wounds, had been an assistant professor in UNLV’s Lee Business School since 2019. Cha-Jan “Jerry” Chang, 64, who suffered a gunshot wound to the head, was an associate professor who had taught at the university for more than two decades. The coroner’s office said the third victim had been identified, but the name was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
The shooting began just before noon Wednesday on the fourth floor of Beam Hall, home of the business school, and sent students and staff fleeing or into lockdown for several hours. A fourth person was critically injured but by Wednesday evening was in stable condition, Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a news conference. He called the shooting a “heinous” crime that could have been worse given how many people were in the targeted building at the time.
Law enforcement officials engaged and “neutralized” the gunman, McMahill said.
The latest news reports said the gunman had been armed with a handgun before being killed at the scene; officials have not released a motive for the shooting. KVVU-TV in Las Vegas showed video of a major law enforcement presence at an apartment complex in nearby Henderson, where the station said officials were executing a search warrant of the suspect’s residence.
A LinkedIn page for Polito, identifying him as “semi-retired university professor,” was marked by an “In Remembrance” banner early Thursday. The page noted his three degrees, including a doctorate from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. From 2001 to early 2017, it said, he was an associate professor at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, and taught courses in operations and supply chain management.
“The greatest gifts and takeaways I possess from my many years within higher education are the many kind & positive comments students made regarding my instruction and disposition toward them,” Polito wrote.
The page was taken down midmorning Thursday.
A biosketch page that he’d also posted online, with a Las Vegas P.O. box, listed his doctorate as concentrated in operations management. Before his years in academia, he worked for companies such as Volvo and Kellogg, Brown & Root, according to the biography.
Polito maintained a wide-ranging personal website that included more details about his life. One section detailed his travels: “Hard to believe, looking back, but I had the pleasure of making more than two dozen trips to Vegas over the last fifteen years. I don’t gamble that much, but there is plenty to do there, that’s for sure !! Over those years, my steel trap mind collected more information and trivia about Vegas than probably anyone in this state east of I-95 (at least)!”
UNLV canceled classes and most other activities through Sunday. A message posted online said “there will continue to be a strong police presence and activity on the main campus today as the investigation into Wednesday’s incident continues.”
President Biden is expected to arrive in the city Friday as part of a previously scheduled visit. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said he would address the “horrific shooting” there.