Las Vegas shooting: 4 including gunman dead, 1 critically injured in violent incident at University of Nevada campus

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: A shooting at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, left four people dead and one critically injured.

The alleged gunman was among the deceased. Following the attack at approximately 11:45 am, faculty members and students locked themselves inside classrooms and dorm rooms while police stormed the campus.

What did the University of Nevada say about the shooting?

About forty minutes after the initial reports of an active shooter, the authorities declared the area safe. Police at the university, according to Adam Garcia, discovered and "engaged" a now-dead suspect. The manner of the suspect's death was not instantly apparent, the New York Post reported. 

Additionally, no information about the victims, the suspect, or a potential motive was immediately made public by the police. Three students and another faculty member sought refuge with Professor Kevaney Martin under a desk in her classroom.

Martin asserted, “It was terrifying, I can’t even begin to explain. 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 claimed she was texting family and friends to learn whether the suspect had been taken into custody. They followed dozens of other students who were running out of the building when another professor entered the room and ordered everyone to leave. After packing her students into her car, Martin drove them off campus.

“Once we got away from UNLV, we parked and sat in silence,” she said, adding, “Nobody said a word. We were in utter shock.”

“This is not a test. RUN-HIDE-FIGHT,” the university wrote on X, alerting students and the public to the emergency. According to the university, the gunman was at UNLV's Lee Business School, located in the Frank and Estella Building's Beam Hall.

Police were called in response to another report of gunfire at the adjacent students union.

Students at UNLV University locked themselves amid mass shooting

According to student Matthew Felsenfeld, he and roughly twelve other classmates locked themselves out of a building close to the student union.

The student stated, “It’s the moment you call your parents and tell them you love them.”

"The moment you tell your parents you love them over the phone is what I mean," according to 21-year-old journalism student Felsenfeld.

Jordan Eckermann, 25, claimed that he heard a loud bang while taking his business law class in a second-floor classroom, which he initially believed to be coming from a nearby music class.

However, a sharp alarm went off and the students stood up. According to Eckermann, who left the room after being led outside by a law enforcement officer brandishing a long gun and wearing a bulletproof vest, some students fled the room in terror while others obeyed the professor's advice to remain composed.

The shooting took place in a city still reeling from one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history, which happened on October 1, 2017, when a gunman opened fire on a music festival, leaving sixty people dead and hundreds more injured.

From a high-rise suite at the Mandalay Bay casino, the gunman started shooting. It is slightly over 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the UNLV campus.

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a ground stop on all flights into Harry Reid International Airport in reaction to the campus shootings. The airport is located about 2 miles (3 km) north of the university.

The shooting in Las Vegas forced the university to cancel classes and Wednesday night's UNLV basketball game at the University of Dayton in Ohio.