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Victims killed in mass shooting at University of Nevada in Las Vegas identified
Anthony Polito worked at ECU from 2001 to 2017 as a marketing associate professor. He was identified as the UNLV shooter.
A man associated with Wednesday’s fatal shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is linked to Georgia. Channel3 NOW has received information from multiple law enforcement sources, indicating that 67-year-old Anthony Polito is the suspect.
While Las Vegas police have not officially disclosed his name, they did confirm that the suspect perished in a confrontation with two police detectives who arrived at the scene.
A law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation informed Channel3 NOW that the individual suspected of fatally shooting three people and injuring another at a Las Vegas university on Wednesday was a professor who had previously applied unsuccessfully for a position at the school.
The assailant was ultimately killed in a confrontation with law enforcement, as confirmed by the police.
Dr. Patricia Navarro, Naoko Takemaru and ChaJan (Jerry) Chang identified as two of the three victims killed in this incident. Dr. Navarro is a Certified Information Systems Auditor.
Patricia Navarro earned her Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Central Florida, obtained her MAcc from Bowling Green State University, and secured her BBA in accounting from the University of Puerto Rico, Ponce. Dr. Navarro’s research, at that time, centered on cybersecurity disclosures and assurance, internal control weakness disclosure, and data analytics. She had been honored with the AICPA Fellowship for Minority Doctoral Students and the KPMG Foundation Minority Doctoral Students Scholarship from 2014 to 2019. In terms of teaching, Dr. Navarro’s interests were in accounting information systems.
Naoko Takemaru was an Associate Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She authored the book “Women in the Language and Society of Japan: The Linguistic Roots of Bias” (McFarland, 2010). Her body of work also encompassed articles in refereed journals and conference proceedings, along with contributions in the form of book reviews.
Dr. Chang was a longtime educator of management information systems, spending more than 20 years of his academic career teaching a generation of UNLV Lee Business School students.
This is Daraboth Rith, Visiting Assistant Professor, shot in the arm at University of Nevada Las Vegas Lee Business School and able to walk until they had him lie down before transporting.
The incident at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has sent shockwaves through a city that is still grappling with the memories of a 2017 mass shooting that claimed the lives of 60 people.
According to the official, who requested anonymity due to a lack of authorization to publicly disclose information, the suspect had prior employment at East Carolina University in North Carolina. The police have not promptly disclosed the identity of the gunman, the victims, or a potential motive.
Around 11:45 a.m., reports of gunfire prompted a rapid police response to the campus, leading students and professors to secure themselves within classrooms and dormitories. The shooting commenced on the fourth floor of the structure accommodating UNLV’s Lee Business School.
The gunman traversed multiple floors before being engaged in a shootout with two university detectives outside the building, resulting in his demise, as detailed by UNLV Police Chief Adam Garcia. Authorities issued an all-clear approximately 40 minutes after the initial active shooter report.
The university communicated the emergency to students and the community through a post on X, emphasizing, “This is not a test. RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.”
The exact number of the 30,000 students present on campus at the time remains unclear. However, Sheriff Kevin McMahill mentioned that students were congregated outside the building for meals and games.
He emphasized that if the police had not neutralized the attacker, there could have been numerous additional lives lost.
The sheriff expressed that no student should have to apprehend fear while pursuing their dreams on a college campus.
Consequently, classes at the university were canceled through Friday, and UNLV’s basketball game at the University of Dayton, Ohio, scheduled for Wednesday night, was also canceled due to the shootings.
