Three innocent people have been killed in a shooting at the Las Vegas campus of the University of Nevada (UNLV) on Wednesday, Dec. 6.
One other victim remains in critical condition at a local hospital, police said in a statement.
The suspect was also fatally shot by officers in a shootout.
Law enforcement sources speaking to US broadcaster CBS described the gunman as a white former college professor in his sixties. He unsuccessfully sought a job at the school.
He had previously taught in Georgia at East Carolina University in North Carolina.
Reports of shots fired at about 11:45 a.m. sent police swarming onto the campus while students and professors barricaded themselves inside classrooms and dorm rooms.
Police said the shooting started on the fourth floor of the building that houses UNLV’s Lee Business School. The gunman went to several floors before he was killed in a shootout with two university detectives outside the building, said UNLV Police Chief Adam Garcia.
Authorities gave the all-clear about 40 minutes after the first report of an active shooter.
Professor Kevaney Martin took cover under a desk in her classroom, where another faculty member and three students took shelter with her.
“It was terrifying. I can’t even begin to explain,” Martin said. “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.”
Martin said she was texting friends and loved ones, hoping to receive word a suspect had been detained. When another professor came to the room and told everyone to evacuate, they joined dozens of others rushing out of the building. Martin had her students pile into her car and drove them off campus.
“Once we got away from UNLV, we parked and sat in silence,” she said. “Nobody said a word. We were in utter shock.”
Students and the community were alerted to the emergency by a university post on X that warned: “This is not a test. RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.”
Tweet from US Vice President Kamala Harris
Matthew Felsenfeld said he and about 12 classmates barricaded their door in a building near the student union.
“It’s the moment you call your parents and tell them you love them,” said Felsenfeld, a 21-year-old journalism student.
Another student, Jordan Eckermann, 25, said he was in his business law class in a second-floor classroom when he heard a loud bang that he thought came from a neighbouring music class.
But then a piercing alarm went off, sending students to their feet. Some ran from the room in panic while others heeded their professor’s instructions to stay calm, said Eckermann.
UNLV and all other southern Nevada System of Higher Education institutions across the state were to remain closed for the rest of Wednesday.