Tragedy Strikes as UNLV Shooting Claims Lives of Faculty Members Cha Jan Chang and Patricia Navarro Velez

Accident – death – Obituary News : University of Nevada, Las Vegas senior Mike Henderson had just finished his class in Beam Hall and was in a corridor when he heard approximately eight gunshots on Wednesday.

“An alert came to my phone from UNLV, stating ‘Shots fired — run, hide, fight,'” Henderson recounted, and that’s when he realized “it was real.”

Without hesitation, Henderson sought refuge in a nearby classroom on the second floor, where he and his fellow students initiated a shelter-in-place protocol. The lights were turned off, and everyone maintained silence, their anxiety palpable.

“We wanted to ensure that if the shooter was approaching the classroom, he would not suspect anyone was inside,” Henderson explained.

Amidst the chaos, Henderson made a call to his father. Similarly, other students, overwhelmed and tearful, desperately reached out to their parents.

“If you believe there’s no chance of survival, you want to have a final conversation with your loved ones,” Henderson revealed.

He continued, “I told my dad, ‘If this is the last time we talk, I love you.’ Losing my mother a few years ago has made my dad my lifeline. Saying goodbye to him was incredibly tough.”

Tragically, three faculty members lost their lives, and another faculty member sustained injuries during the mass shooting at UNLV on Wednesday. The Clark County coroner identified two of the victims as 64-year-old Cha Jan Chang, a professor, and 39-year-old Patricia Navarro Velez, an assistant professor.

According to law enforcement officials in Las Vegas, the victims were targeted on separate floors of the business school building. The suspect’s movements within the building suggest a deliberate intent to harm specific individuals during the rampage.

The UNLV police responded swiftly, with the first officer arriving on the scene only 1 minute and 18 seconds after receiving the distress call.

Following the shootings, the suspect encountered two UNLV police detectives near the student union, located outside the business building. A gunfight ensued, resulting in the suspect’s death at the scene.

After approximately 25 minutes of being barricaded in the classroom, the police finally reached Henderson and his fellow students, safely escorting them out of the building.

As they were led to safety, Henderson heard additional gunshots originating from the student union adjacent to their location. Outside, Henderson’s eyes were confronted with a distressing sight — a lifeless body lying on the ground, covered in blood.

Brayden McDermott, a first-year UNLV student also present on the second floor of Beam Hall, recalled his experience when an alarm initially went off.

“We were bewildered, unaware of what was happening since many of us were first-years and had never encountered such a situation,” McDermott shared. “Then suddenly, someone screamed… there’s a gun.”

“Everyone started running in the opposite direction,” he continued, recounting the chaos. “I nearly got trampled; one girl even fell down the stairs. We didn’t know the extent of the danger. It was truly horrifying.”

While McDermott did not personally hear any gunshots, he swiftly evacuated the building after hearing someone mention the presence of a gun.

“I was panicking. My lungs were burning,” McDermott confessed. “I was terrified.”

During the aftermath of the shooting, McDermott, along with hundreds of other students, waited for nearly eight hours at the Thomas and Mack Center until the dormitories were deemed safe.

Expressing his somber perspective, McDermott admitted that the frequency of mass shootings in the United States had led him to anticipate such an event.

“I don’t mean to sound insensitive or harsh, but these occurrences have become so commonplace. People have become desensitized, and that is truly regrettable,” McDermott said.

He concluded, “No one is immune. If there were a place that was impervious to such tragedies, we would all be living there.”.