UNLV shooter had list of targets for rampage that killed three

The scorned professor who slaughtered three University of Las Vegas faculty members also sent 22 letters containing laced white powder to collegiate scholars across the country before Wednesday’s shooting rampage, police said.

Anthony Polito, 67, surreptitiously dropped off the envelopes at a nearby post office without bearing a return address before he headed to the UNLV campus and unleashed a deadly shooting after he was turned down for a job.

“I learned that in the screening of those envelopes that we were able to intercept — after going through 14,000 pieces of mail and identifying the 22 that were sent — the first letter that we opened had an unknown white powder substance in it,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a Thursday press conference.

The content of the letters is not yet clear, but McMahill said some of the addressees are university leaders at UNLV and East Carolina University, where Polito served as an associate business professor from August 2001 to January 2017.

Polito stormed onto the campus just before noon Wednesday equipped with a handgun and 11 ammunition magazines, the police sheriff said. He was also carrying a list of targets that included professors at UNLV and East Carolina University.

Polito allegedly killed three faculty members inside Beam Hall, which houses the university’s business school.

Police identified two of the victims as business professors Patricia Navarro-Velez and Cha Jan “Jerry” Chang. The third victim’s identity has not been released because relatives have not yet been notified.

A fourth victim, a 38-year-old visiting professor, survived the attack and was rushed to a hospital, where his condition has since been downgraded to life-threatening.

“None of the individuals on the target list became a victim,” McMahill said.

Polito was killed when he rushed out of the building and exchanged gunfire with cops, who ultimately “neutralized the threat.”

At Polito’s home, officers found additional documents left by the gunman that indicated he intended to die during the mass shooting.

“There was a chair with an arrow pointing down to a document which that document was last similar to the last will and testament,” McMahill said.

Investigators also found a box for the .9mm handgun, which was legally purchased last year, and ammunition that matched the gun and cartridge cases that were found at the scene.

Politio’s motive for the string of violence is unclear, but police insinuated it could be tied to his repeated rejection by universities.

“We know he applied numerous times for a job with several Nevada higher education institutions and was denied each time,” said McMahill.

“We also know the suspect was struggling financially, as evidenced by when we served a search warrant on his apartment. There was a notice of eviction taped to the front door.”

Officials said it was clear Polito was not targeting students, but said it was possible he may have moved onto the nearby student union building where the community was enjoying a barbeque before the shooting began.

Polito’s victims were killed on the third and fourth floors of Beam Hall, where faculty and staff offices for the accounting and marketing departments are located.

Navarro-Velez, 39, was an accounting professor who held a Ph.D. in accounting and was currently focused on research in cybersecurity disclosures and data analytics, according to the school’s website.

Chang, 64, was an associate professor in the business school’s Management, Entrepreneurship & Technology department and had been teaching at UNLV since 2001. He held degrees from Taiwan, Central Michigan University and Texas A&M University, according to his online resume. He earned a Ph.D. in management information systems from the University of Pittsburgh.

There have been 80 school shootings so far this year, breaking last year’s record of 79 over the same period.

Of this year’s school shootings, 51 occurred on K-12 campuses while the other 29 were at colleges or universities. 

With Post Wires