“University of Nevada, Las Vegas Shooting: Police Mistook Gunman for Bystander in Deadly Incident”

Accident – death – Obituary News : LAS VEGAS (AP) — Authorities have released body camera footage and provided police accounts of a deadly shooting that occurred inside the business school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The footage shows police officers mistaking the gunman for a bystander and urging him to leave the building during the frantic search for the suspect and victims. This incident took place on December 6 and resulted in the death of three professors and the wounding of another on the university campus.

The video footage reveals two Las Vegas police officers with their weapons drawn, climbing stairs to a second-floor walkway that overlooked the ground floor of the business school. Although the shooter, Anthony Polito, appears briefly in the footage, it provides the first glimpse of him inside the building after he opened fire on the top floors of the business school.

Polito can be seen wearing a long black trench coat over a white shirt, calmly moving through the first floor of the business school while officers swarmed the building. At this point, there was no indication that he was carrying a weapon. The officers shouted at Polito to leave and pointed towards an exit as they continued along the walkway. Fortunately, no one outside the building was harmed during the shooting.

Undersheriff Andrew Walsh of Clark County stated that it was clear the officers were unaware that they had encountered the gunman inside the building. He explained that at the time, the officers did not have a description of the shooter, and they were aware that there were other police resources on the first floor. Sheriff Kevin McMahill previously mentioned that the university police officers had mistaken the gunman for a professor.

The body camera footage released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department did not show the shootout that ultimately ended Polito’s life. However, an earlier video released by McMahill showed Polito descending a set of stairs outside the business school, his long black coat swaying. In the footage, one of the university police officers approached Polito from behind. When Polito turned around with a weapon in hand, the officer quickly sought cover behind a patrol car.

Authorities have not provided a specific motive for the shooting. However, they revealed that Polito had been facing financial difficulties and had been rejected for a teaching position at UNLV and other schools in Nevada. Prior to this incident, Polito had left a tenured post at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, after teaching business for over 15 years.

The three professors who lost their lives during the shooting at UNLV were Naoko Takemaru, 69, an associate professor of Japanese studies and author; Cha Jan “Jerry” Chang, 64, an associate professor in the business school’s Management, Entrepreneurship & Technology department; and Patricia Navarro Velez, 39, an accounting professor specializing in research on cybersecurity disclosures and data analytics. The injured victim, a 38-year-old visiting professor, has not been publicly identified.

Authorities have announced that more body camera footage will be released in the coming weeks as the investigation continues.

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