The suspect in a shooting that killed three people at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on Wednesday was a professor who taught at the University of Northern Iowa from 1999 to 2001.
The Associated Press has identified the suspect as Anthony Polito. The 67-year-old man is suspected of fatally shooting three people and wounding another. He was a professor who unsuccessfully sought a job at the school, a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press. He was killed in a shootout with law enforcement officers at Beam Hall at the Lee School of Business, Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said.
Polito
A name has not been released by the Metropolitan Police Department, UNLV or the Clark County coroner’s office.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Polito’s longest academic position was at East Carolina University at Greenville, North Carolina, where he served as a professor from 2001 to 2017 as well as an earlier stint in the early 1990s. Prior to Eastern Carolina he taught at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls from 1999 to 2001 and at the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia in the 1990s.
On Wednesday, terrified students and professors cowered in classrooms and dorms as a gunman roamed the floors of a University of Nevada, Las Vegas, building, killing three people and critically wounding a fourth before dying in a shootout with police.
Investigators searched an apartment in Henderson, Nevada, late Wednesday as part of the investigation and retrieved several electronic devices, including Polito's cellphone, the official said. The official was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
The attack terrified a city that experienced the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history in October 2017, when a gunman killed 60 people and wounded more than 400 after opening fire from the window of a room at Mandalay Bay casino on the Las Vegas Strip a couple of miles from the UNLV campus.
Lessons learned from that shooting helped authorities to work "seamlessly" in reacting to the UNLV attack, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference.
The gunman opened fire about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday on the fourth floor of the building that houses UNLV's Lee Business School and then went to several other floors before he was killed in a shootout with two university police detectives outside the building, UNLV Police Chief Adam Garcia said.
Authorities gave the all-clear about 40 minutes after the first report of an active shooter.
It wasn't immediately clear how many of the school's 30,000 students were on campus at the time, but McMahill said students had been gathered outside the building to eat and play games. If police hadn't killed the attacker, "it could have been countless additional lives taken," he said.
"No student should have to fear pursuing their dreams on a college campus," the sheriff said.
Police didn't immediately identify the victims, or the attacker's motive. They also didn't say what kind of weapon was used, although some witnesses reported hearing as many as 20 shots fired.
UNLV professor Kevaney Martin took cover under a desk in her classroom, where another faculty member and three students took shelter with her.
"It was terrifying. I can't even begin to explain," Martin said. "I was trying to hold it together for my students, and trying not to cry, but the emotions are something I never want to experience again."
Martin said she was texting friends and loved ones, hoping to receive word a suspect had been detained. When another professor came to the room and told everyone to evacuate, they joined dozens of others rushing out of the building. Martin had her students pile into her car and drove them off campus.
"Once we got away from UNLV, we parked and sat in silence," she said. "Nobody said a word. We were in utter shock."
Selena Guevara said she got a phone call from her daughter, Markie Montoya, who was in class in the building and heard "gunshots, screaming and yelling" but wasn't hurt.
"She's hysterical, telling me 'I love you' and so scared," Guevara said.
Another student, Jordan Eckermann, 25, said he was in his business law class in a second-floor classroom when he heard a loud bang and a piercing alarm went off, sending students to their feet. Some ran from the room in panic while others heeded their professor's instructions to stay calm, Eckermann said.
He walked out and locked eyes with a law enforcement officer in a bulletproof vest holding a long gun. Clothing, backpacks and water bottles lay scattered on the floor.
Eckerman said he mouthed to the officer, "Where do I go?"
The officer pointed to an exit.
Minutes later, when he was outside, Eckermann said he heard bursts of gunshots, totaling at least 20 rounds. The air smelled of gunpowder. He said he kept walking away from campus, even though he didn't know where to go.
Classes were canceled through Friday at the university, and UNLV's basketball game at the University of Dayton, Ohio, was canceled Wednesday night because of the shootings.
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The Associated Press has identified the suspect as Anthony Polito. The 67-year-old man is suspected of fatally shooting three people and wounding another. He was a professor who unsuccessfully sought a job at the school, a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press. He was killed in a shootout with law enforcement officers at Beam Hall at the Lee School of Business, Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said.
Polito
A name has not been released by the Metropolitan Police Department, UNLV or the Clark County coroner’s office.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Polito’s longest academic position was at East Carolina University at Greenville, North Carolina, where he served as a professor from 2001 to 2017 as well as an earlier stint in the early 1990s. Prior to Eastern Carolina he taught at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls from 1999 to 2001 and at the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia in the 1990s.
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On Wednesday, terrified students and professors cowered in classrooms and dorms as a gunman roamed the floors of a University of Nevada, Las Vegas, building, killing three people and critically wounding a fourth before dying in a shootout with police.
Investigators searched an apartment in Henderson, Nevada, late Wednesday as part of the investigation and retrieved several electronic devices, including Polito's cellphone, the official said. The official was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
The attack terrified a city that experienced the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history in October 2017, when a gunman killed 60 people and wounded more than 400 after opening fire from the window of a room at Mandalay Bay casino on the Las Vegas Strip a couple of miles from the UNLV campus.
Lessons learned from that shooting helped authorities to work "seamlessly" in reacting to the UNLV attack, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference.
The gunman opened fire about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday on the fourth floor of the building that houses UNLV's Lee Business School and then went to several other floors before he was killed in a shootout with two university police detectives outside the building, UNLV Police Chief Adam Garcia said.
Authorities gave the all-clear about 40 minutes after the first report of an active shooter.
It wasn't immediately clear how many of the school's 30,000 students were on campus at the time, but McMahill said students had been gathered outside the building to eat and play games. If police hadn't killed the attacker, "it could have been countless additional lives taken," he said.
"No student should have to fear pursuing their dreams on a college campus," the sheriff said.
Police didn't immediately identify the victims, or the attacker's motive. They also didn't say what kind of weapon was used, although some witnesses reported hearing as many as 20 shots fired.
UNLV professor Kevaney Martin took cover under a desk in her classroom, where another faculty member and three students took shelter with her.
"It was terrifying. I can't even begin to explain," Martin said. "I was trying to hold it together for my students, and trying not to cry, but the emotions are something I never want to experience again."
Martin said she was texting friends and loved ones, hoping to receive word a suspect had been detained. When another professor came to the room and told everyone to evacuate, they joined dozens of others rushing out of the building. Martin had her students pile into her car and drove them off campus.
"Once we got away from UNLV, we parked and sat in silence," she said. "Nobody said a word. We were in utter shock."
Selena Guevara said she got a phone call from her daughter, Markie Montoya, who was in class in the building and heard "gunshots, screaming and yelling" but wasn't hurt.
"She's hysterical, telling me 'I love you' and so scared," Guevara said.
Another student, Jordan Eckermann, 25, said he was in his business law class in a second-floor classroom when he heard a loud bang and a piercing alarm went off, sending students to their feet. Some ran from the room in panic while others heeded their professor's instructions to stay calm, Eckermann said.
He walked out and locked eyes with a law enforcement officer in a bulletproof vest holding a long gun. Clothing, backpacks and water bottles lay scattered on the floor.
Eckerman said he mouthed to the officer, "Where do I go?"
The officer pointed to an exit.
Minutes later, when he was outside, Eckermann said he heard bursts of gunshots, totaling at least 20 rounds. The air smelled of gunpowder. He said he kept walking away from campus, even though he didn't know where to go.
Classes were canceled through Friday at the university, and UNLV's basketball game at the University of Dayton, Ohio, was canceled Wednesday night because of the shootings.
Las Vegas shooter was former professor in Iowa who applied for a job at UNLV, source says
Anthony Polito reportedly taught at the University of Northern Iowa from 1999 to 2001.
