LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Three people were killed when a gunman opened fire Wednesday on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus, and the suspected shooter was killed by officers, authorities said.
One additional gunshot victim was initially listed in critical condition at a local hospital and later upgraded to stable, police said.
Authorities said there is “no further threat” to the university, which has been closed for the rest of the day.
“Our hearts go out to the entire UNLV community,” said Sheriff Kevin McMahill with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. “No student should have to fear pursuing their dreams on a college campus. What happened today is a heinous, unforgivable crime.”
Police briefing on UNLV shooting
Las Vegas authorities say a gunman killed three people at the UNLV campus before being fatally shot by responding officers.
In addition to the gunshot wounds, the sheriff said four people were transported to local hospitals after suffering panic attacks and two officers incurred minor injuries during the search of campus.
McMahill said authorities know the name of the suspect but do not intend to release it until notification of next-of-kin.
The motive remains under investigation.
Timeline: What we know
The shooting was first reported on campus at 11:45 a.m. Shots were reported in the area of Beam Hall, home of UNLV’s Lee Business School, as well as the school’s student union, which is next door.
Both campus police and Las Vegas metro officers responded to the scene.
Two detectives with the campus force ultimately were the first to locate and engage the suspect, according to campus police Chief Adam Garcia.
“Two of our detectives responded to the scene,” Garcia said at a 5 p.m. briefing. “They immediately engaged the suspect in a shootout. The suspect was struck and is deceased at this time.”
McMahill said the quick response likely prevented further deaths. A large group of students were gathered in the area for a campus event, where students were playing games, eating food and building Legos.
“If it hadn’t been for the heroic actions of one of those police officers who responded, there could have been countless additional lives taken,” the sheriff said at the 5 p.m. briefing. “Armed confrontation of the suspect by law enforcement stopped the suspect’s further actions.”
Shooting at University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Students urged: RUN-HIDE-FIGHT
Shortly after the shots rang out, students were urged to hide or evacuate when possible.
“This is not a test,” the university wrote in a post on X. “RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.”
“Students hunkered down, they’re afraid, theyre scared,” said Sheriff McMahill. “Our officers are going unit by unit, building by building.”
Officers later escorted students off campus.
“Lots of cops on campus,” one student said. “They had guns. We all walked out of the building with our hands up.”
She said as she and her friends walked past the student union building, they could see a window shattered and pieces of glass scattered around.
Within about 40 minutes of the initial alert, Las Vegas police posted on X that a suspect “has been located and is deceased.”
A ground stop was initiated at Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday due to the close proximity of the airport runways to the shooting site, and because of the police response to the shooting, which included helicopters, according to an official briefed on the incident.
Classes were canceled, as was a UNLV basketball game at the University of Dayton, Ohio.
The campus is expected to remain closed Thursday and Friday. Officials will determine if additional closures should extend into next week, when final exams for the semester are supposed to begin.
The shooting occurred in a city still scarred by 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 60 were killed and hundreds more wounded. The UNLV campus is just over three miles from that location.
UNLV has more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at its 332-acre campus is less than 2 miles east of the Las Vegas Strip, the area’s bustling tourist hub, and just across from Harry Reid International Airport.
The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.
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