On December 6th, 2023, three people were killed in a shooting at The University of Las Vegas.  The victims were “Jerry” Cha-Jan Chang, Patricia Navarro-Velez, and Naoko Takemaru.  The gunman has been Identified as Anthony Polito, who was shot and killed by police on the scene.  According to investigators, Polito had written a “target list” in which none of the victims were on.

In a press conference on December 8th, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill shared that Politos motive for the vicious crime was that he was rejected a job at the college.  Polito also reportedly injured a visiting male professor who is currently being treated for life threatening injuries. During the investigation, detectives went to Politos’ apartment.  Along with an eviction notice, detectives found that Polito had mailed 22 letters to University staff across the country with no return address.  Some of the letters had a harmless white powder in them.

In an interview with CNN on December 8th, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said that Polito’s list included “people he was seeking on the university campus as well as faculty from the Eastern Carolina University.”  On December 7th, NBC News reported that Polito “spent much of his time in the classroom talking about his obsession with Sin City and had “peculiar” ways of working, according to former students and one of his former graduate assistants.”  As of December 12th, The University of Las Vegas is still locked down.