The man suspected of opening fire at a University of Nevada, Las Vegas building on Wednesday and killing three people before dying in a police shootout was a “semi-retired” professor who’d been turned down for a job at the school, according to reports.
Sources cited by ABC News late Wednesday said the 67-year-old suspect had previously worked as a professor in North Carolina before seeking a job at UNLV. An unnamed law enforcement official cited by the Associated Press also identified the gunman as a professor who had tried but failed to secure a position at the school.
Police were seen conducting a search late Wednesday at an apartment in Henderson, Nevada, listed on the driver’s license of the same professor, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
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The professor, whom The Daily Beast is not naming until police confirm they have notified next of kin, appears to have spent the longest stretch of his career in North Carolina, where his LinkedIn page says he worked as an associate professor for 15 years at East Carolina University.
No other past work experience is listed, but the page also touts the professor’s positive reviews from students, linking to a 109-page document comprised exclusively of purported praise from former students.
“The greatest gifts and takeaways I possess from my many years within higher education are the many kind & positive comments students made regarding my instruction and disposition toward them,” the LinkedIn page says.
Investigators have reportedly begun digging through the suspect’s phone in search of details about the motive behind the shooting, which took place in Beam Hall, home of Lee Business School. Students had reportedly gathered outside the building for an event held there as the gunman went floor to floor inside the building, ultimately being killed as he was confronted by police.
The victims killed were not students but faculty or staff, according to ABC News. Police have not yet identified those killed.
“It was terrifying. I can’t even begin to explain,” UNLV professor Kevaney Martin told the AP, saying she’d sheltered under a desk along with another faculty member and several students. “I was trying to hold it together for my students, and trying not to cry, but the emotions are something I never want to experience again.”
“We watched a lot of fear across the faces of those young men and women at UNLV today,” Las Vegas Metro Sheriff Kevin McMahill said. The rampage brought back memories of the Route 91 Harvest music festival shooting in October 2017, which left 60 people dead and unfolded just minutes away from the UNLV campus.
