Gunman dead and at least three injured in shooting at university in Las Vegas
6 December 2023, 22:34
UNLV has more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at its 332-acre campus, which is less than two miles east of the Las Vegas Strip.
Three people were taken to hospital on Wednesday after a gunman opened fire on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The sheriff said there was no further threat after police located a suspect, who ended up dead.
“Right now, we know there are 3 victims, but unknown extent of the injuries,” Sheriff Kevin McMahill said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “That number could change.”
He did not say whether any victims had been killed.
URGENT: From Sheriff Kevin McMahill: "No more threat to the community. The suspect is deceased. Right now, we know there are 3 victims, but unknown extent of the injuries. That number could change. We will update you when we know more." https://t.co/Y3jT9VcNFz
— LVMPD (@LVMPD) December 6, 2023
“So I don’t want to give you false information and tell you how many victims that we have. But we will be providing that update very, very shortly.”
Police were called about an active gunman on campus at 11.45am on Wednesday, said Adam Garcia, a university police official.
He said officers found and “engaged” a suspect, who is now dead. It was not clear how the suspect died.
The university said on X, formerly Twitter, that the gunman was at the Beam Hall, Frank and Estella Building, home of UNLV’s Lee Business School, and that police were responding to an additional report of shots fired at the nearby student union.
Las Vegas police posted on X that a suspect “has been located and is deceased” about 40 minutes after the initial alert was posted.
Students and the community were alerted to the emergency by a university post on X.
“This is not a test,” the university wrote. “RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.”
Student Matthew Felsenfeld said he and about 12 classmates barricaded their door in a building near the student union.
“It’s the moment you call your parents and tell them you love them,” said Mr Felsenfeld, 21, a journalism student.
He said he did not hear gunfire or see anyone injured but said he saw out of the windows as police prepared to enter the neighbouring building. A short while later, police arrived and ushered them out.
Pierre Lescure, a senior student, 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,” Mr Lescure said. “It could not be something else.”
An Associated Press reporter saw a team of officers with FBI insignia move as a group on to campus just before 1pm, soon after police reported the dead suspect.
University officials on social media urged anyone on campus to continue sheltering in place, saying: “This remains an active investigation.”
UNLV has more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at its 332-acre campus, which is less than two miles east of the Las Vegas Strip.
The shooting took place in a city still scarred by one of the worst mass killings in US history, the October 1, 2017, shooting at the Mandalay Bay casino in Las Vegas, in which 60 were killed and hundreds more wounded.
The UNLV campus is just over three miles from that location.
