Multiple victims in UNLV campus shooting; gunman dead: Live ...

Authorities said a suspect was dead after reports Wednesday afternoon of an active shooter and at least three victims at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The Nevada university confirmed shortly after noon local time on X there was an active shooter at the Frank and Estella Beam Hall. The college said 20 minutes later there was an additional report of shots fired at the Student Union.

"There’s no further threat," Kevin McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said. "This is still a very active and dynamic scene. There are victims."

McMahill said “a number” of victims have been transported to local hospitals, though he declined to provide exact number. Police have set up a reunification center and directed people looking for loved ones to content the center. 

"Officers are going unit by unit building by building… to make sure we don’t have any additional victims," McMahill said.

"The suspect has been located and is deceased," Las Vegas police said at 12:37 p.m. local time.

“This is not a test,” the university wrote. “RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.” Las Vegas police said in a separate post on X that there appeared to be multiple victims.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said it was responding to reports of an active shooter on the college campus, and there “appears to be multiple victims.” Officials urged people to avoid the area and said more information would be released soon.

The university announced a statewide closure of the Nevada System of Higher Education institutions and its own campus for the rest of the day, while urging people to remain sheltered in place as police continued to clear buildings.

"Campuses are all closed out of an abundance of caution," Adam Garcia, a vice president of public safety services and director of university police services at UNLV, said.

The shooting happened in a city that was the site of one of the worst mass killings in U.S. history, the Oct. 1, 2017, mass shooting at the Mandalay Bay casino in Las Vegas, in which 58 were killed and hundreds more wounded.

There have been 630 mass shootings in the U.S. this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive defines a mass shooting as at least four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including the shooter. In 2022, there were 646 total mass shootings in the U.S.  

Professor checks on students to 'make sure they are alive'

While waiting for the all-clear in his office, UNLV law school Prof. Michael Kagan said he emailed all his students to ask them to check in. Kagan said he didn't hear any shots but was sheltering in place per university guidance.

He tweeted: "I am used to sending emails to students to ask where their paper is. Today I am sending emails just to make sure they are alive."

Speaking to USA TODAY as he anxiously awaited more responses, Kagan said he walks through the student union daily for coffee or lunch.

"I've heard from about half of them so far," Kagan said of his students. "The worrying thing is that because it's exam week, that someone who got done with exams early went to get lunch over there."

"It's surreal. I'm hoping that in the end in a totally selfish way hope everyone is ok," he said, before hanging up to speak with his worried daughter. "I would just like to know that all of my students are ok."

Student locked down in library

UNLV student Emily Wagner confirmed to USA TODAY Wednesday she was locked down in Lied Library with the graduate commons and downed phone lines. The sociology doctoral student said police hasn't evacuated her area as of 1:18 p.m.

Wagner told USA TODAY about 25 people are sheltered in the library where a staffer said they should be evacuated soon. 

"Someone just came over the speaker and said that police are evacuating and that when they come here, we are to follow their instruction," she said. "However, no clear timetable has be given as to when we will be leaving." 

About the University of Nevada, Las Vegas 

UNLV is a public university founded in 1957 just north of the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. It has more than 25,000 undergraduate students and more than 4,200 graduate students, according to fall 2022 student statistics shared by the university. About 70% of the students who attend the university are minorities, 32% of which are Hispanic, 15% are Asian and 12% are two or more races. 

What is Beam Hall? 

The BEAM Hall, formally known as the Frank and Estella Beam Hall is a facility housing the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Lee Business School. The five-story hall opened in 1983 and has about 115,000 square feet of space, according to the university. 

The building is regularly used by students, having central offices for economics, finance, management and marketing undergraduate majors, plus the university’s masters programs in business administration.