Police Mistook Gunman for Bystander in Deadly UNLV Shooting

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Newly released body camera footage and police accounts reveal that during the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) shooting on December 6, police officers mistakenly identified the gunman as a bystander and urged him to leave the building. The tragic incident, which took place inside the business school, resulted in the deaths of three professors and left one wounded.

The footage shows two Las Vegas police officers, with their weapons drawn, climbing the stairs to a second-floor walkway overlooking the ground floor of the business school. The officers were part of the frantic search for the suspect and victims. However, they mistook the shooter, later identified as Anthony Polito, for a bystander as he moved calmly through the first floor of the building wearing a long black trench coat over a white shirt. There was no indication that he was armed.

In the video, the officers can be heard shouting, “Get out! Get out!” at Polito, pointing towards an exit. Unbeknownst to them, Polito was the gunman responsible for the shooting. He eventually left the building, pulled out his weapon, and engaged in a shootout with university police officers, resulting in his death. Fortunately, no one outside the building was harmed during the incident.

Clark County Undersheriff Andrew Walsh stated that it is apparent the officers did not know they had encountered the gunman inside the building. Sheriff Kevin McMahill had previously mentioned that the officers had mistaken Polito for a professor. The body camera footage released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department did not capture the shootout, but a separate video showed Polito descending a set of stairs outside the business school.

The motive behind the shooting remains unclear. However, authorities have revealed that Polito had been facing financial troubles and had been rejected for a teaching position at UNLV and other Nevada schools. He had previously held a tenured position at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. The three professors who lost their lives in the UNLV shooting were Naoko Takemaru, Cha Jan “Jerry” Chang, and Patricia Navarro Velez. The wounded victim, a visiting professor, has not been identified.

Additional body camera footage related to the incident will be released in the coming weeks, providing further insight into the tragic events that unfolded at UNLV.