Current:Home > FinanceThe UNLV shooting victims have been identified. Here's what we know. -Wealth Empowerment Academy
The UNLV shooting victims have been identified. Here's what we know.
Ethermac View
Date:2025-04-08 19:52:49
Authorities have identified the three victims killed during Wednesday's shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, campus.
On Thursday, the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner identified two of the victims as Cha Jan Chang, 64, a professor at the university, and Patricia Navarro Velez, 39, an assistant professor.
Chang, who was also known as Jerry, died from a gunshot wound to the head, and Velez died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds, the medical examiner said.
Authorities have identified the third deceased victim but are waiting to notify the next of kin. According to two law enforcement sources, the third victim was also not a student.
The fourth wounded victim, a 38-year-old male visiting professor, remains in the hospital where his condition has been downgraded to life-threatening, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill said in a news conference Thursday afternoon.
McMahill identified the shooter as 67-year-old Anthony Polito. The shooter was a long-time business professor who sought a professor position at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and was denied. He had applied "numerous times" for jobs at multiple Nevada colleges "and was denied each time," McMahill said.
According to police, the shooter arrived on the UNLV campus around 11:28 a.m. in a 2007 Lexus armed with a Taurus 9 mm handgun he purchased legally in 2022 and 11 magazines, which he had in carriers strapped to his body. McMahill said police are not sure exactly how many rounds were fired, but nine loaded magazines were recovered after the shooting.
Shots were first reported to police around 11:45 a.m., McMahill said.
The shooter exited Beam Hall, the building where the shooting occurred, at 11:55 a.m., when he was shot multiple times by police officers in a gunfight captured on security footage. He died on the scene, police said.
The victims were found on three different floors of Beam Hall. Two of the people who were killed were found on the third floor and the third person who was killed was found on the fourth floor.
The wounded victim is believed to have been shot on the fifth floor, but he managed to get to the ground floor on his own before being taken to the hospital. McMahill said Thursday afternoon that authorities were not sure in what order the victims had been shot.
New details about the shooter emerge
As police continue their investigation, they have learned more about the shooter and his actions leading to the shooting.
The shooter had a previous criminal history of computer trespass out of Virginia in 1992, police said.
On the morning of the shooting, he visited a post office in Henderson, Nevada, and sent 22 letters to various university personnel across the country with no return address, police said.
Police said they do not know the contents of those letters and are working with the postal inspector and federal partners to process them. One of the letters was found and when authorities opened it they found a white powder, McMahill said. The powder was found to be "harmless," the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said later Thursday night.
A search warrant was executed at the shooter's Henderson residence, where police recovered multiple items, including a chair with an arrow pointing down to a document that was similar to a will, several computers and hard drive components, as well as ammunition consistent with cartridge cases found at UNLV and a box for a handgun consistent with the one the shooter used, police said.
The shooter also had a list of people he was seeking on the UNLV campus and Eastern Carolina University, police said. None of the people who were shot were on the list, McMahill said in a statement Thursday night.
Police determined the shooter had money issues, and he even had an eviction notice taped to his front door in Henderson.
Police said they believe the shooter acted alone.
Pat Milton and Andy Triay contributed reporting.
veryGood! (36542)
Related
- Dick Vitale announces he is cancer free: 'Santa Claus came early'
- The Best Work-Appropriate Halloween Costume Ideas for 2023 to Wear to Your Office Party
- Forget winter solstice. These beautiful snowbirds indicate the real arrival of winter.
- Night sweats can be as unsettling as they are inconvenient. Here's what causes them.
- Most popular books of the week: See what topped USA TODAY's bestselling books list
- No charges for man who fired gun near pro-Palestinian rally outside Chicago, prosecutor says
- Man who cyberstalked parent of Parkland shooting victim sentenced to year in prison
- Staff at NYC cultural center resign after acclaimed author's event canceled
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Man living in woods convicted of murder in shooting deaths of New Hampshire couple
Ranking
- Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow owns a $3 million Batmobile Tumbler
- 1 dead, 1 injured after small airplane crashes near Pierre, South Dakota
- Hate crimes in the US: These are the locations where they're most commonly reported
- 5 Things podcast: Biden says no ceasefire in Israel-Hamas war until hostages released
- Moving abroad can be expensive: These 5 countries will 'pay' you to move there
- Reno man convicted of arsons linked to pattern of domestic violence, police say
- Dog owners care more about their pets than cat owners, study finds
- Maryland Terrapins assisant coach Kevin Sumlin arrested for DUI in Florida
Recommendation
Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
Malaysia gives nod for Australian miner Lynas to import, process rare earths until March 2026
Montana man gets 18 months in prison for racist phone calls to Black woman employed at church
Panera Bread's ‘Charged Lemonade’ being blamed for student's death, family files lawsuit
Chuck Scarborough signs off: Hoda Kotb, Al Roker tribute legendary New York anchor
6,800 UAW members ordered to join strike at Stellantis' Sterling Heights Assembly Plant
Gaza has oil markets on edge. That could build more urgency to shift to renewables, IEA head says
Inquiry into New Zealand’s worst mass shooting will examine response times of police and medics