A person opened fire Wednesday on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus, killing three and wounding another, according to police who reported the shooter was found dead.

What You Need To Know

  • A person opened fire Wednesday on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus, killing three and wounding another, according to police

  • Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill did not say whether any victims had been killed

  • Officers said the suspect is now deceased; it's not clear how the suspect died

  • In response to the campus shootings, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop of all flights coming into Harry Reid International Airport. The university is roughly 2 miles north of the airport

"According to our investigators at the scene, we have three deceased victims and one additional victim in critical condition at a local hospital," the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said on social media.

The gunman was a professor who had unsuccessfully sought a job at the school, a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press. He previously worked at East Carolina University in North Carolina, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information publicly.

President Joe Biden mourned the victims of the shooting, as well as a Tuesday shooting that left at least six dead in Texas, in a statement. He called on Congress to do more to address gun violence.

"Jill and I join citizens across our nation in praying for the families of our fallen, and for those who were injured during these latest acts of senseless violence," Biden said. "This year alone, our nation has experienced more than 600 mass shootings, and approximately 40,000 deaths due to gun violence. This is not normal, and we can never let it become normal."

Reports of shots fired at about 11:45 a.m. sent police swarming onto the campus while students and professors barricaded themselves inside classrooms and dorm rooms.

Police said the shooting started on the fourth floor of the building that houses UNLV’s Lee Business School, and the gunman went to several floors before he was killed in a shootout outside the building.

UNLV Police Chief Adam Garcia said at an evening news conference that two university detectives immediately got into a shootout with the killer.

Authorities gave the all-clear about 40 minutes after the first report of an active shooter.

Sheriff Kevin McMahill said students had gathered outside the building to eat and play games. If police hadn't killed the attacker, “it could have been countless additional lives taken,” he said.

“No student should have to fear pursuing their dreams on a college campus,” the sheriff said.

Authorities didn’t immediately release any additional details about the shootings, the victims, the suspect or a possible motive.

Professor Kevaney Martin took cover under a desk in her classroom, where another faculty member and three students took shelter with her.

“It was terrifying, I can’t even begin to explain,” Martin said. “I was trying to hold it together for my students, and trying not to cry, but the emotions are something I never want to experience again.”

Martin said she was texting friends and loved ones, hoping to receive word a suspect had been detained. When another professor came to the room and told everyone to evacuate, they joined dozens of others rushing out of the building. Martin had her students pile into her car and drove them off campus.

“Once we got away from UNLV, we parked and sat in silence,” she said. “Nobody said a word. We were in utter shock.”

Students and the community were alerted to the emergency by a university post on X that warned: “This is not a test. RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.”

Student Matthew Felsenfeld said he and about 12 classmates barricaded their door in a building near the student union.

“It’s the moment you call your parents and tell them you love them,” said Felsenfeld, a 21-year-old journalism student.

Jordan Eckermann, 25, said he was in his business law class in a second-floor classroom when he heard a loud bang that he thought came from a neighboring music class.

But then a piercing alarm went off, sending students to their feet. Some ran from the room in panic while others heeded the professor’s urging to stay calm, said Eckermann, who walked out and was directed to an exit by a law enforcement officer in a bulletproof vest holding a long gun.

UNLV’s 332-acre campus is less than 2 miles east of the Las Vegas Strip. it wasn’t immediately clear how many of the 30,000 students were on campus.

The shooting occurred in a city still scarred by one of the worst mass killings in U.S. history, the Oct. 1, 2017, massacre by a gunman in which 60 people attending a music festival were killed and hundreds more were wounded. The gunman opened fire from a high-rise suite at the Mandalay Bay casino. The UNLV campus is just over 3 miles from that location.

In response to the campus shootings, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop of all flights coming into Harry Reid International Airport. The university is roughly 2 miles north of the airport.

Classes were canceled through Friday at the university, and UNLV’s basketball game at the University of Dayton, Ohio, was canceled Wednesday night because of the Las Vegas shootings.