An economics professor who maintained a website with a section about the Zodiac serial killer shot and killed three people at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on Wednesday after he was denied a job at the school.
The suspect, Anthony Polito, opened fire on the fourth floor of Lee Business School just before noon, prompting a massive response from local law enforcement. About 20 minutes after they arrived, officers found the shooter and shot him.
Officials say Polito, 67, was armed with a handgun during the attack, which began after his application for a professorship was rejected. None of those killed were students.
In addition to the three deceased, another person was injured and remains in critical condition.
According to the shooter’s LinkedIn page, he worked as a professor at East Carolina University in North Carolina between 2001 and 2017. On a website he ran, Polito claimed to have decoded cryptic messages from the killer in the unsolved Zodiac murder case.
In another section of this site, Polito wrote about his love for Las Vegas, saying that although he doesn’t gamble much, he has made over 25 trips to the city since 2000. At the time of the shooting, the shooter was living in Las Vegas. It is not clear when his website was last updated.
Anthony Polito (pictured) has been named as the deceased suspect in the shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
On Wednesday, police were seen running to the scene of the Las Vegas campus mass shooting
Students are seen evacuating the scene of Wednesday’s shooting on the University of Nevada campus
Two women are seen talking on the phone after Wednesday’s shooting to say they are OK
Las Vegas police are seen at the scene of the college shooting Wednesday morning
Las Vegas police surrounded the Las Vegas University campus Wednesday evening
The investigation will continue into the night as investigators work around the clock to find out more information
The suspect’s website also had a section about conspiracy theories and his opinion on them.
“I have lived in Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Virginia and Wyoming. During my travels, I particularly enjoyed Jackson Hole, The Outer Banks, Key West… and of course Durham,” he writes in the biography section of the site.
His taste in music ranges from pop singers like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin to folk musicians like Willie Nelson and Joni Mitchell.
In his favorite film segment, Polito argues that everyone “argues a truth with powerful eloquence.”
His favorite films include Michael Moore’s Roger & Me, Oliver Stone’s JFK and the film adaptation of Ayn Rand’s conservative epic The Fountainhead.
Polito counts Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein and George Soros among the “great minds of the 20th century”.
There is another section titled: “Powerful Organizations Seeking Global Domination!”
Organizations listed include the Rothchild family, the Bilderberg Group, the International Monetary Fund, and MIT’s Economics Department.
In this section, Polito posted a link to a website created by far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
A message reading “#UNLVStrong #VegasStrong” is displayed at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas
In addition to the three deceased, another person was injured and remains in critical condition
Elsewhere on the site, Polito lists his personal theories on various mysteries, including the Zodiac Killer, the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and the true meaning of the 2010 Leonardo DiCaprio film “Inception.”
“I have had the pleasure of making more than two dozen trips there over the last fifteen years. I don’t play that much, but there’s a lot to do there, that’s for sure!! “Over these years, my steely mind has accumulated more information and trivia about Vegas than probably anyone else in this state east of I-95,” he writes on the website.
He then adds a list of his favorite hotels and nightclubs in Las Vegas.
Poilto graduated from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, where he received a Doctor of Philosophy.
He also earned a Master of Business Administration from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and attended Radford University, where he double majored in Bachelor of Science, Mathematics and Statistics.
His failed application was reported by 8 News Now. Sources told the website that he may also have had ties to a person who works on campus.
On his LinkedIn page, Polito claimed he was pleased with the positive feedback from his students.
“The greatest gifts and insights I have from my many years in college are the many kind and positive comments from students about my teaching and my attitude toward them,” he wrote.
On his page, a student praised him as “one of the best teachers” and wrote: “I had the chance to teach Dr. Having Polito as my instructor for my Operations Management course that I took in Fall 2013.”
‘DR. Polito teaches students about things that happen in the real world that we can apply in our careers. He definitely knows his course material and each new course covers interesting topics. One of the best teachers I’ve had so far.’
Polito’s skills included public speaking, research, student affairs, teaching and statistics.
While on his website, Polito published 109 pages of supposedly positive statements from students about his classes.
“Polito is very organized with the prepared notes. He is approachable and seems very open to students’ concerns and ideas. His “real world” experiences provide anecdotes that illustrate the course material. “He is definitely an asset to the management department,” one person wrote.
“I feel like the strength of this course was the professor.” “Dr. Polito is a great instructor,” wrote another. While another said: “The lesson was unorthodox but it definitely worked!”
A video released late Wednesday by Fox Las Vegas showed a swarm of police officers searching his home in the city’s Henderson neighborhood.
Before entering the apartment complex, neighbors said police made an announcement over a loudspeaker telling residents they were entering the building.
Those neighbors also said they heard two stun grenades explode in the hallways.
Students are seen being evacuated from the building on the University of Nevada campus
Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the suspect was dead. He added: “At the moment we know there are three victims but the extent of their injuries is unknown.” That number could change. We will let you know when we know more.
A SWAT team truck is pictured on campus in Las Vegas on Wednesday
The three people who died in the shooting were not named. A fourth victim was shot but was in stable condition, Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference Wednesday evening.
He said four other people were in hospital after panic attacks and two officers were treated for minor injuries.
McMahill praised the “heroic” officer who stopped Polito, but said they were unable to say exactly what weapon was used.
Joe Biden said the shooting, which came a day after six people were shot in Austin and San Antonio, was “not normal, and we must never allow it to become normal.”
The president said he was saddened that the university was “the latest college campus to be terrorized by a horrific act of gun violence.”
He thanked first responders and said it shows more needs to be done to end the epidemic of gun violence.
“This year alone, our country has experienced more than 600 mass shootings and approximately 40,000 deaths from gun violence.” “This is not normal and we can never let it become normal,” he said in a White House statement.
“Despite all the actions we have taken since I became president, the epidemic of gun violence we face requires us to do even more.”
“But without Congress, we can’t do more.” Republican lawmakers must join with Democrats in Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, pass a national red flag law, implement universal background checks, require safe storage of guns, and other sensible ones Advance measures that will help stem the tide of gun violence.
“And together, we must do more to prevent more families and more communities like Austin, San Antonio and Las Vegas from being torn apart by gun violence.”
Polito was pictured in a picture posted on his website in 1971
Biden had already planned to visit Las Vegas on Friday to speak on infrastructure, and the shooting hasn’t changed his plans.
He is expected in Vegas on Friday and travels to Los Angeles over the weekend.
Adam Garcia, director of university police, said the first 911 call came in at 11:45 a.m.
“Officers immediately responded and located the suspect,” Garcia said. He said the suspect was shot by officers.
“The entire higher education system and campuses in Nevada are closed out of an abundance of caution.” “There is no threat to other campuses, but they are closed out of an abundance of caution.”
A huge police contingent, including tactical teams, were seen rushing to the college after a warning was issued to students urging them to “run-hide-fight”.
In response to the campus shootings, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights at Harry Reid International Airport. The university is about three kilometers north of the airport.
Less than an hour after the alert was issued, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced that the suspect had died. Police said the investigation is still ongoing.
Officials said the attack involved “multiple victims.”
Initial reports indicate that more shots may have been fired in the college’s student union and officers were evacuating buildings one by one.
Tactical teams were seen moving around the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus as students were exhorted to “RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.”
Terrified students were seen evacuating campus Wednesday after reports of an active shooter on campus
A university student is seen using his cell phone on campus in Las Vegas on Wednesday
Emergency responders were seen monitoring the scene from the roof of a building while the campus was placed on lockdown
Shots were reported in Frank and Estella Beam Hall, the business school, and also in the adjacent student union
Police patrol cars are seen on campus in Las Vegas on Wednesday
The first emergency call came in at 11:45 a.m. on Wednesday, police said
Police will be notified of the campus shooting on Wednesday
Footage shared on social media appears to show emergency crews moving across campus, with officers seen surveying the scene from the roof of a building.
Officials said several victims were taken to a local hospital, one of whom was reportedly placed on alert for a “mass casualty event.”
The campus is located in the heart of Las Vegas, across from Harry Reid International Airport and close to the city’s Strip.
It is just miles from the site of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history: At the Route 91 Music Festival in October 2017, a gunman opened fire on the crowd, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds more. The high-stakes player who carried out the shooting was angered by how casinos treated him despite his high-roller status, the FBI concluded.
Student John Harris heard what he later realized was a gunshot as he got out of his car in the parking garage of an on-campus apartment complex. In the elevator, Harris said he received an emergency text message from the university.
“I wasn’t sure what to believe,” said Harris, 21, who eventually found shelter in a friend’s dorm.
He told AP: “But when I got out onto the street and saw a bunch of police officers standing in the parking lot of the student union, I knew that what I heard was a gunshot and that it wasn’t a drill. “
A witness to Wednesday’s attack told Fox News he heard several gunshots on campus before they were evacuated by police.
“(I heard) boom, boom, boom, more shots,” she said. “So I ran into the basement and heard gunshots outside, heard the police, and then the police just evacuated me out.”
“I had my hands above my head and yes, I heard a lot of gunshots.” I didn’t know how many shooters there were. I didn’t actually know anything.’
An English professor at UNLV, Vincent Perez, told MSNBC he heard seven or eight loud gunshots “one after the other” as he looked across campus from the balcony of a building.
“We recognized that this was a real shooting and there was an active shooter on campus,” he said.
“It just sounded like a high-powered weapon – just an echo, an echo in a way that…makes you realize that this is someone who is out to kill people.”
A large police presence descended on campus and officers confirmed the suspect was dead, less than an hour after students were warned about a school shooter
Students were led out of the buildings one by one as officials insisted the shooting investigation was ongoing
Another witness said: “We could hear the shots from where we were.” “There were about 200 children in one room and a lot of people were panicking.”
They said the group was in the middle of a presentation in a student union meeting room, at which point the group panicked as everyone present received a text message alert at the same time.
“They said they had locked down the building,” they said.
“They closed all the curtains. Everyone moved to one side of the room. Afterwards we had to wait for a long time for 20 minutes and were told to go to a corner.
“And we heard a lot of screaming. Then it got more and more hectic… The officers were yelling and they came in, we all raised our hands and they walked us all the way here… I saw a glass break, it looks like it was past two shots.’
Another witness in the student union said they could hear “screams from next door” as they hid.
“We were in the student union where everything was happening.” But it was just super scary to hear that. “All of us as a class… we were just so scared,” they said.
“I feel like we should have turned the lights off or something. “But we definitely got cornered and evacuated and, you know, we wanted more because we were getting these warnings and we were kind of scared.”
A witness to the chaos said he heard “screams” coming from the room next to him and the situation left them frightened
The frightened students praised the university’s response to the shooting and said they received ongoing updates, “which was great.”
UNLV first reported the incident in a post around 11:53 a.m
In a second post at 11:59 a.m., the school confirmed that university police were “responding to a confirmed active shooter situation in BEH.” This is not a test.’
At 12:04 p.m., Las Vegas police confirmed officers responded to preliminary reports of an active shooter on the UNLV campus.
At 12:32 p.m., Las Vegas police said a suspect had been found and deceased.
“There appear to be multiple victims at this time,” LVMPD said, advising people to avoid the area.
Professor Kevaney Martin hid under a desk in her classroom, where another faculty member and three students sought refuge with her.
“It was terrifying, I can’t even begin to explain it,” Martin said. “I tried to hold it together and not cry for my students, but I never want to experience those emotions again.”
Martin said she texted friends and family hoping to get word that a suspect had been arrested. When another professor came into the room and told everyone to evacuate, they joined dozens of others rushing out of the building. Martin loaded her students into her car and drove them away from campus.
“When we got away from UNLV, we parked and sat in silence,” she told AP. “Nobody said a word. “We were completely shocked.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday she was aware of the shooting.
“Of course, we will continue to monitor what is happening at this time.” “I don’t want to prejudge what local law enforcement is likely to be dealing with at this time,” she said.
Following the weekend’s killings, the US has already broken the record for the most mass shootings in a single year. There have been 717 so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The previous record was set in 2021 when there were 689.