Las Vegas shooting attack: what is known about the shooting that left people dead at the University of Nevada

The shooter in a mass shooting Wednesday on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA, that left three dead and a fourth injured, is a 67-year-old college professor with connections to colleges in Georgia. and in North Carolina, a police source told CNN .

It is not known what connection he had to the school where the shooting occurred.

At a news conference Wednesday night, a Las Vegas sheriff, Kevin McMahill, said the identity of the shooter, who is dead, will not be released until his family is notified.

Campus police confronted the shooter outside Beam Hall, the sheriff said. There was a gathering outside the hall where students were playing and building things with Lego toys, according to the sheriff.

“What happened today is a heinous and unforgivable crime… If not for the heroic actions of one of the responding police officers, countless additional lives could have been taken,” he said.

See also: Las Vegas shooting leaves three dead

In addition to the four shooting victims, four people were taken to hospitals due to symptoms of panic attacks, the sheriff said. Two police officers were treated for minor injuries sustained while searching for the victims.

Three patients were taken to Sunrise Hospital, spokeswoman Marissa Mussi said. The sheriff said the injured victim’s condition — initially listed as serious — was upgraded to stable.

Police are working to uncover evidence and identify a motive, McMahill said, adding that he did not have details about the suspect’s weapon.

This latest mass shooting comes as students are in the middle of a week of studying before taking final exams and heading into winter break, in the same city that suffered the worst mass shooting in modern US history in 2017.

Police responded just before noon Wednesday to reports of a multi-victim shooting on campus near Beam Hall, home of the university’s Lee Business School, according to a social media post.

At 11:54 a.m. (local time), the university posted an emergency notice online, saying, “University police responding to report of shots fired at BEH, evacuate to safe area, run, hide, fight.”

The university then said on platform X, formerly Twitter, that police were responding to “additional reports of shots fired in the Student Union” and advised people to evacuate the area.

Students were forced to shelter in place for hours as authorities confronted the suspect and then worked to clear and evacuate campus buildings.

The order was lifted Wednesday night, the university said in a post on X, noting that there was no longer an active threat on campus.

“I was sitting outside, just having breakfast. I heard three loud bangs and thought, ‘Oh, what was that?’” one student told KVVU affiliate KVVU. CNN .

“The police showed up and I ran inside. After two minutes, more shots. I ran to the basements and stayed there for 20 minutes,” said the student. “I was hearing a lot of gunshots.”

Brett Johnsen was in Beam Hall when he heard a loud noise during class, he told CNN but it didn’t sound like a gunshot and the teacher continued the class.

“Then an alarm went off,” said Johnsen, “I’ve never heard an alarm like that before, it didn’t sound like a fire alarm.”

The students in the class began packing their things relatively calmly, Johnsen explained. “When we started leaving class, that’s when things got real,” he added.

After the teacher opened the door to let the students out, his expression turned to panic and he asked the students to go back, lock the doors and lie on the floor, Johnsen said.

The teacher checked the situation outside again after 30 seconds, Johnsen said, and then told the students to “run as fast as you can.”

UNLV President Keith Whitfield said in a statement that the campus community is in shock following the “unfathomable event.”

“We will forever remember and honor those we lost and who were injured. I mourn the victims of today’s senseless shooting and my heart breaks for the many students, faculty, staff, parents, loved ones, and community members who suffered through hours of painful uncertainty as law enforcement officers ensured our campus was safe and secure. again,” Whitfield said.

80th US school shooting

There have been 631 mass shootings in the United States this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

There have been 80 school shootings in the U.S. so far this year, according to an analysis by CNN . Of those, 51 shootings were reported on middle and high school campuses and 29 on college campuses.

UNLV is located just miles from the site of the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival that left at least 58 dead and hundreds injured. In the years since the massacre, two more victims have died from shooting-related injuries.

One student told the affiliate CNN KSNV who was in class in the building next to the student union and saw police officers entering.

“We were very nervous, so we built a barricade,” he told the Las Vegas station. He and the other students took a few minutes to look out the windows, he said.

“We saw students running in single file with their hands up, scared, and we saw police officers coming in,” added the student, who said he was in journalism class with about a dozen other people.

He said they did not hear any gunfire or see anyone who could have been the shooter.

“Tragic and heartbreaking news from @unlv. Praying for everyone on campus as authorities respond to the situation,” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn G. Goodman posted on X shortly after news of the shooting broke.

The White House said it was monitoring the shooting “very closely.”

The second gentleman was also previously scheduled to deliver remarks this evening at the Newtown Action Alliance Foundation’s 11th Annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence, the White House added.

(Reporting by John Miller, Cheri Mossburg, Sara Smart and Taylor Romine of CNN; Steve Almasy of CNN CNN Brammhi Balarajan and Amanda Jackson contributed to this report)