UNLV shooter’s gun ‘malfunctioned’ during police standoff
After killing three professors and seriously injuring a fourth at UNLV’s business school, the shooter’s semi-automatic handgun “malfunctioned” during a standoff with police, authorities said Wednesday.
Officers from 14 agencies, including the Metropolitan Police Department and University Police Services, had responded to the campus in December 2023 and two university police officers spotted a heavily armed Anthony Polito as he walked out of Beam Hall.
“He’s shooting at law enforcement officers,” attorney Josh Tomsheck said while questioning Metro detective Jason Leavitt during a fact-finding hearing on Wednesday. “And he’s got a lot of ammunition on him … He’s got multiple magazine rounds on each side of his belt.”
A fact-finding review is conducted after a police-involved death occurs and the district attorney’s office preliminarily determines that officers will not be prosecuted.
Leavitt testified that Polito was carrying two 17-round magazines and two 18-round magazines on his left side, along with five 18-round magazines on his right side.
Leavitt said that Polito’s Taurus 9mm pistol failed to eject a spent round, which stopped the gunman from firing additional shots.
Polito, 67, of Henderson, killed professors Patricia Navarro Velez, 39, Cha-Jan “Jerry” Chang, 64, and Naoko Takemaru, 69, in the December 6, 2023, shooting. A fourth victim, Daraboth “Bot” Rith, listed as a “visiting assistant professor,” was also named in a final report on the shooting. In September 2024, Rith, who was shot 10 times, shared the story of how he survived.
Detectives Nathaniel Drum and David Garcia, both in plain clothes and without body-worn cameras, together fired about 17 rounds at Polito in front of the hall.
Polito was pronounced dead at the scene, and Leavitt said police recovered a total of 166 rounds of his ammunition.
Had Polito survived, he would have been charged with nine counts, including murder, attempted murder on a police officer, and carrying a concealed weapon on school property, Leavitt said.
Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.
