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

Accident – death – Obituary News : Police Officers Mistake Gunman for Bystander During Deadly Shooting at University of Nevada, Las Vegas Business School

In a shocking turn of events, two Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers responding to a deadly shooting inside the business school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), mistook the gunman for a bystander. Body camera footage and police accounts reveal that the officers urged the shooter to get out of the building amidst the frantic search for the suspect and victims.

The shooting, which occurred on December 6, resulted in the tragic deaths of three professors and left one wounded on the 30,000-student campus. The shooter, later identified as 67-year-old Anthony Polito, can be seen briefly in the footage, which was made public on Wednesday. This provides the first glimpse of the suspect inside the building after opening fire on the top floors of the five-story business school.

At the time of the incident, students and staff were enjoying their lunch and engaging in games in a large courtyard just outside the business school, which is situated across from the university’s student union. The video footage shows Polito wearing a long black trench coat over a white shirt, calmly navigating the first floor of the business school while officers swarmed the building. Although one of his hands was visible at his side, there was no indication that he was armed.

As the officers climbed the stairs to a second-floor walkway overlooking the ground floor, they shouted at Polito, pointing to an exit and urging him to get out of the building. Clark County Undersheriff Andrew Walsh confirmed that it is evident from the footage that the officers were unaware that they had encountered the gunman inside the building. He explained that they didn’t have a description of the shooter at the time and believed that other police resources were present on the first floor.

Approximately one minute later, Polito exited the building, drew his weapon, and engaged in a shootout with university police officers. Authorities have confirmed that no one outside the building was harmed during the exchange of gunfire. However, the body camera footage released on Wednesday did not include the shootout itself.

This recent footage follows the release of a short video earlier this month by Sheriff Kevin McMahill. The video depicted Polito descending a set of stairs outside the business school, his long black coat swaying. In the video, one of the university police officers approached Polito from behind, but when the shooter turned around with his weapon in hand, the officer quickly sought cover behind a patrol car. Sheriff McMahill previously stated that the university officers were also unaware that they had initially encountered the gunman.

While police have not yet specified a motive for the shooting, they have revealed that Polito was facing financial troubles and had been rejected for a teaching position at UNLV and other Nevada schools. Prior to the incident, Polito had left a tenured post at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where he had been teaching business for over 15 years.

The three professors who tragically lost their lives during the shooting were Naoko Takemaru, 69, an accomplished author and associate professor of Japanese studies, 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 identity of the wounded victim, a 38-year-old visiting professor, has not been disclosed.

Police have announced that additional body camera footage will be released in the coming weeks, shedding further light on the incident and the response of law enforcement officials..