Law enforcement officers head into the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, campus after reports of an active shooter, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, in Las Vegas.
Steve Marcus | Las Vegas Sun | AP
Three people were shot to death and a fourth critically wounded Wednesday in an attack at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas that sent shock waves through a city still scarred by the deaths of 60 people in a 2017 shooting only a few miles away on the famous Strip. The suspected shooter also was found dead.
The attack at about 11:45 a.m. sent police swarming onto the campus while students and professors barricaded themselves inside classrooms and dorm rooms.
Authorities gave the all-clear about 40 minutes after the first report of an active shooter. Adam Garcia, a university police official, said officers found and “engaged” a suspect, who is now dead. It wasn’t immediately clear how the suspect died.
Police also didn’t immediately release any details about the victims, the suspect or a possible motive.
Police are seen at the scene of a shooting on the UNLV campus on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, in Las Vegas.
Madeline Carter | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
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,” Matin 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.
Police are seen at the scene of a shooting on the UNLV campus on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, in Las Vegas.
Madeline Carter | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
“Once we got away from UNLV, we parked and sat in silence,” she said. “Nobody said a word. We were in utter shock.”
Students and the community were alerted to the emergency by a university post on X that warned: “This is not a test. RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.”
The university said the shooter was at the Beam Hall, Frank and Estella Building, home of UNLV’s Lee Business School, and that police responded to an additional report of shots fired at the nearby student union.
Student Matthew Felsenfeld said he and about 12 classmates barricaded their door in a building near the student union.
People leaving University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus with raised hands after reports of a shooting on December 6, 2023.
Obtained by Reuters
“It’s the moment you call your parents and tell them you love them,” said Felsenfeld, a 21-year-old journalism student.
He said he didn’t hear gunfire or see anyone injured but said he saw out the windows as police staged to enter the neighboring building. a short while later, police came and ushered them out.
Pierre Lescure, a UNLV senior, was riding his bicycle from home to campus for a meeting when he said about 10 police cars drove pass him.
“They drove too fast and there was no ambulance, just cops. It was clearly a shooting,” Lescure said. “It could not be something else.”
UNLV’s 332-acre campus is less than 2 miles east of the Las Vegas Strip.
In response to the campus shootings, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop of all flights coming into Harry Reid International Airport. The university is roughly 2 miles (3 kilometers) north of the airport.
Tony Molinaro, an FAA spokesperson, referred a request to comment to Las Vegas law enforcement.
Classes were canceled at the university, and UNLV’s basketball game at the University of Dayton, Ohio, was canceled Wednesday night because of the Las Vegas shootings.
