Police: UNLV shooter tried to mail 22 letters to university personnel

The gunman who killed three people and injured one more at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas attempted to mail at least 22 letters to university personnel across the country just before the shooting, police said Thursday.

Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said one of the intercepted letters contained a “white powder substance” and urged caution to people who receive suspicious mail without a return address. Police later said the powder was found to be harmless.

The suspected shooter, 67-year-old Anthony Polito, was shot and killed by police at the scene of the shooting Wednesday, officials said, adding he applied to numerous higher education jobs throughout Nevada, including UNLV. 

Two of the victims of the shooting were UNLV professors, though it is unknown whether Polito knew them. The identity of the third victim was not released because police had yet to contact their family, police said.

A fourth victim, also a UNLV professor, was described as in life-threatening condition at a local hospital.

McMahill said Polito had a list of professors at UNLV and East Carolina University, where he previously worked, in his possession when he was killed. A motive is still unclear, he said.

None of the faculty members on the list was a victim in the attack, McMahill added.

During a search of Polito’s apartment nearby, police said a document appearing to serve as a last will and testament was found, and an eviction notice was posted on the apartment door.

When Polito was shot and killed by police, he was headed toward the nearby student union. The gunman had more than 150 rounds of ammunition on him, McMahill said, adding he was “glad [the shooter] didn’t get out of UNLV.”

“Yesterday was the most difficult day in the history of our university,” UNLV President Keith Whitfield said in a statement Thursday. “Words are still hard to come by as we’re only beginning to process the grief, loss, anger, and fear associated with Wednesday’s tragic campus shooting that took the lives of three of our cherished faculty members. Another faculty member remains hospitalized.”