Campus Alert Archive
UNLV

Gunman kills three faculty members in a campus building before dying in a police shootout

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NVactive shooteremergency notificationhigh confidence
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Confirmed Threat

A 67-year-old professor who had been rejected for a position at UNLV opened fire in Beam Hall, killing three faculty members and wounding a fourth. The RebelSAFE alert sequence began with a typo-laden initial message, escalated to confirm an active shooter with the phrase 'This is not a test,' expanded to a second building report at the Student Union, then shifted to a lengthy shelter-in-place as police evacuated buildings one at a time.

Alerts
5
Response
8 min
Killed
3
Injured
3
Institution
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Public R1 · NV
All UNLV cases →
~31,000 studentsRebelSAFE Alert
Official alert policy
Read when and how UNLV says it will use RebelSAFE Alert: summarized, quoted, and analyzed.
Documented Timeline

Alert Sequence

5 messages in sequence · 5 verified verbatim

Confirmed wording is transcribed character-for-character from a primary source. Use Verify this quote under each message to open that source in a new tab and compare the text yourself.

INITIAL ALERTTwitter/X
Verified verbatim99 chars
University Police responding to report of shots fire in BEH evacuate to a safe area, RUN-HIDE-FIGHT
Verify this quote
@UNLV official Twitter/X post (verbatim), timestamp 11:53 AM PST December 6, 2023x.comfind archived copies
Posted on @UNLV's official Twitter/X account at approximately 11:53 AM PST on December 6, 2023, paralleling the UNLV Rebel Alert SMS push
Typo: 'shots fire' instead of 'shots fired' is preserved verbatim; Fox 5 Vegas, Las Vegas Sun, and KTNV each quoted the same typo, indicating the SMS template carried the typo
Uses building abbreviation 'BEH' (Beam Hall, home of the Lee Business School), assuming recipient familiarity with campus codes
Combines evacuation directive with Run-Hide-Fight in a single message
No capitalization of building name suggests speed prioritized over formatting
UPDATETwitter/X+6 min
Verified verbatim160 chars
UPDSouth - UNLV UPD Alert - UNLV University Police responding to confirmed active shooter in BEH. This is not a test. RUN-HIDE-FIGHT. https://www.unlv.edu/info
Verify this quote
@unlv on X (verbatim raw t.co)x.comfind archived copies
Posted verbatim by @UNLV on X/Twitter at 11:59 AM PST on December 6, 2023, six minutes after the first 'shots fire' alert
Escalation from 'report of shots fire' to 'confirmed active shooter'
'This is not a test' reflects institutional awareness of alert fatigue from regular drills
System prefix 'UPDSouth' identifies University Police Services, Southern Command, the NSHE-consolidated police agency that has jointly served UNLV, the College of Southern Nevada, the Desert Research Institute, and Nevada State University since a 2019 Board of Regents consolidation, distinct from the separate Northern Command serving UNR, TMCC, WNC, and Great Basin College in northern Nevada
Hyphenated RUN-HIDE-FIGHT format maintained from first alert
UPDATETwitter/X+27 min
Verified verbatim154 chars
UPDSouth - UNLV UPD Alert - UNLV University Police responding to additional report of shots fired in the Student Union, evacuate the area, RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.
Verify this quote
@unlv on X (verbatim raw t.co)x.comfind archived copies
Posted verbatim on @UNLV's official Twitter/X account on December 6, 2023, after a secondary report at the Student Union
Reports shots at a second location (Student Union), expanding the perceived threat zone
The Student Union report may have been unrelated or a confusion in the chaotic aftermath
The shooter had already been killed by police by this time, yet this alert suggested ongoing danger
Demonstrates how multi-location reports complicate situational awareness during active events
UPDATETwitter/X+1h 5m
Verified verbatim103 chars
Police ask that you continue to please shelter in place. Police are evacuating buildings one at a time.
Verify this quote
LVMPD final investigative report on the December 6, 2023 UNLV shooting, quoting the 12:58 p.m. UNLV message; reproduced by KTNVktnv.comfind archived copies
Shift from active threat language to methodical clearing operations
'Evacuating buildings one at a time' signals a systematic process that will take hours
Sent nearly 30 minutes after the suspect was confirmed deceased, but shelter remained in effect
Verbatim recovery: the LVMPD final investigative report (after-action report) quotes the 12:58 p.m. PST on December 6, 2023 UNLV message word-for-word as 'Police ask that you continue to please shelter in place. Police are evacuating buildings one at a time.', reproduced by KTNV; the prior reconstruction's appended 'Avoid the area around Beam Hall and Student Union' was not in the source and has been removed
UPDATESMS+7h 45m
Verified verbatim156 chars
UNLV UPD Alert – The threat has been neutralized. Please stay away from the area of Beam Hall. Scene is still active. Shelter in place until further notice.
Verify this quote
UNLV RebelSAFE Twitter/Xtwitter.comfind archived copies
'Threat has been neutralized' is unusually direct language confirming a lethal force outcome
Partial all-clear: threat ended but scene remains active for investigation
Full shelter-in-place not lifted until 7:38 p.m. PST on December 6, 2023, nearly eight hours after the shooting began
Maintains shelter directive despite threat elimination to preserve the crime scene
Message elements

How the first alert is built

To check this alert, Claude (an AI) read it in full 25 separate times, independently. Each read decided whether the message answers each of the six questions and gave a short reason. A final reviewer then weighed all 25 and wrote the plain-English verdict you see when you open a row. The score (for example 22/25) is how many reads agreed; the 25 individual reads are tucked underneath if you want to check them.

University Police responding to report of shots fire in BEH evacuate to a safe area, RUN-HIDE-FIGHT

  • Sourcepresent25/25

    Final assessment

    Unanimous: 'UPD Alert - UNLV' and 'University Police' clearly identify the issuing authority.

    Who is sending the alert and who is responding. People act faster on a message from a clearly identifiable, credible sender, such as a named department, the police, or a branded alert system, than on an anonymous notice. A branded signature counts.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. present: Sent by UPD/UPDSouth at UNLV.
    2. present: 'University Police' and UPD signature identify the issuer
    3. present: Signed UPD/UPDSouth-UNLV, University Police.
    4. present: 'UPD Alert - UNLV' and 'University Police' identify the issuer.
    5. present: UPD and UNLV are named as issuing the alert.
    6. present: Identifies University Police / UPD.
    7. present: UPD/UNLV police identified as sender/authority.
    8. present: 'UPD Alert - UNLV' and 'University Police' identify the issuing authority.
    9. present: Branded 'UPD Alert - UNLV' and University Police named as issuer.
    10. present: 'UPD' and 'UPDSouth - UNLV' identify police as sender.
    11. present: Sent by UPD/UPDSouth, University Police responding.
    12. present: 'UPDSouth - UNLV' and 'University Police' identify the issuing authority.
    13. present: 'UPDSouth - UNLV' and 'University Police' named.
    14. present: Signed 'UPD Alert - UNLV' identifying University Police.
    15. present: Branded 'UPD Alert - UNLV' and 'University Police' identify the sender.
    16. present: 'UPD Alert - UNLV' and 'University Police responding' identify the source.
    17. present: UPDSouth-UNLV / UPD Alert - UNLV identifies University Police as sender.
    18. present: Signed 'UPDSouth - UNLV' and 'University Police responding'.
    19. present: Branded 'UPD Alert - UNLV' and University Police identified.
    20. present: 'UPDSouth - UNLV' and 'University Police' identify issuing authority.
    21. present: Signed 'UPD Alert - UNLV', University Police.
    22. present: Branded 'UPD Alert - UNLV' and 'University Police' identify the sender
    23. present: Signed 'UPD-South - UNLV' and 'University Police responding'.
    24. present: Tagged 'UPDSouth - UNLV' and 'University Police' identify the issuing authority.
    25. present: Sent as 'UPD Alert - UNLV' by University Police.
  • Hazardpresent25/25

    Final assessment

    Unanimous: 'confirmed active shooter' explicitly names the specific hazard.

    What the threat actually is. A complete warning names the specific danger, such as a shooter, a fire, a tornado, or a gas leak, rather than a vague emergency, because people decide what to do based on what they are facing.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. present: Names 'confirmed active shooter'.
    2. present: 'confirmed active shooter' names the threat
    3. present: States 'confirmed active shooter'.
    4. present: 'active shooter' specifically named.
    5. present: States 'confirmed active shooter'.
    6. present: Names 'confirmed active shooter'.
    7. present: 'Confirmed active shooter' names specific hazard.
    8. present: States 'active shooter' explicitly.
    9. present: States 'confirmed active shooter in BEH.'
    10. present: 'confirmed active shooter' names the threat.
    11. present: 'confirmed active shooter' names the specific threat.
    12. present: States 'confirmed active shooter.'
    13. present: 'confirmed active shooter in BEH.'
    14. present: States 'confirmed active shooter'.
    15. present: States 'confirmed active shooter'.
    16. present: States 'confirmed active shooter'.
    17. present: States 'confirmed active shooter'.
    18. present: States 'confirmed active shooter'.
    19. present: Names 'confirmed active shooter'.
    20. present: 'confirmed active shooter' names specific hazard.
    21. present: Names 'confirmed active shooter'.
    22. present: States 'confirmed active shooter'
    23. present: States 'confirmed active shooter in BEH'.
    24. present: States 'confirmed active shooter'.
    25. present: States 'confirmed active shooter'.
  • Locationpresent25/25

    Final assessment

    Unanimous: the building 'BEH' is named as the specific location.

    Where the threat is. Saying whether danger is in a specific building, a part of campus, or area-wide lets people judge their own proximity and choose a safe direction. Without a where, a warning is hard to act on precisely.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. present: Names the building 'BEH'.
    2. present: 'in BEH' names the building
    3. present: Names 'BEH' building.
    4. present: 'in BEH' (building) specified.
    5. present: Names 'BEH' building.
    6. present: Names building 'BEH'.
    7. present: 'in BEH' names specific building.
    8. present: Names building 'BEH'.
    9. present: Names BEH building.
    10. present: 'in BEH' names a building.
    11. present: Location given as 'BEH'.
    12. present: Names 'BEH' building.
    13. present: 'in BEH' names a building.
    14. present: Names BEH building.
    15. present: Names BEH building.
    16. present: Names 'BEH' building.
    17. present: 'in BEH' names the building.
    18. present: Names 'BEH' building as location.
    19. present: Names 'BEH' building.
    20. present: 'in BEH' names building location.
    21. present: States location 'in BEH'.
    22. present: Names 'BEH' building
    23. present: Names building 'BEH'.
    24. present: Names 'BEH' building.
    25. present: Names 'BEH' building.
  • Guidancepresent25/25

    Final assessment

    Unanimous: 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT' is explicit, direct protective-action guidance.

    The protective action to take. A clear, specific instruction, such as shelter in place, evacuate, avoid the area, or run-hide-fight, drives faster and more correct protective behavior than describing the threat alone.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
    2. present: 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT' gives explicit protective action
    3. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
    4. present: 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT' is explicit protective action guidance.
    5. present: Directs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
    6. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
    7. present: 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT' is explicit protective action.
    8. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
    9. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.'
    10. present: 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT' instructs protective action.
    11. present: 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT' is explicit protective action.
    12. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.'
    13. present: 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.'
    14. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
    15. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
    16. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
    17. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
    18. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
    19. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
    20. present: 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT' is explicit protective action.
    21. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
    22. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'
    23. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
    24. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
    25. present: Instructs 'RUN-HIDE-FIGHT'.
  • Timeabsent0/25

    Final assessment

    Unanimous: no clock time or date is given; 'This is not a test' conveys urgency but not timing.

    When the message applies. A timestamp, the word now or immediately, or a phrase like until further notice tells the reader whether the danger is current and how quickly to act.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. absent: No time given.
    2. absent: no clock time or date given
    3. absent: No clock time or date given.
    4. absent: No clock time; 'This is not a test' isn't a time marker.
    5. absent: No specific time reference.
    6. absent: No clock time or date given.
    7. absent: No clock time or date given.
    8. absent: No clock time or date given.
    9. absent: No clock time or date included.
    10. absent: No clock time or date given.
    11. absent: No clock time or recency term given.
    12. absent: No clock time or date given, only 'not a test.'
    13. absent: No clock time or date given, only 'responding' as present tense.
    14. absent: No time or date reference.
    15. absent: No clock time or date given.
    16. absent: No clock time or date given.
    17. absent: No clock time; 'not a test' isn't a time marker.
    18. absent: No clock time, date, or recency marker beyond 'not a test'.
    19. absent: No clock time or date given, though 'not a test' implies urgency but not time.
    20. absent: No clock time or date given.
    21. absent: No clock time or date given.
    22. absent: No clock time or date given
    23. absent: No clock time or date given.
    24. absent: No clock time or date; 'not a test' isn't a time reference.
    25. absent: No clock time or date given.
  • Impactabsent3/25

    Final assessment

    Strong majority finds no explicit statement of potential harm beyond naming the hazard itself; a few reads treated 'this is not a test' as conveying severity, but most correctly see that phrase as authenticating urgency rather than describing consequences.

    What the hazard could do to the people in its path. Beyond naming the threat, a complete warning conveys its potential consequences or severity, such as that a tornado can level buildings or that a leak could be explosive, so recipients grasp how much danger they are in. Research on warning message content finds that a concrete impact statement helps people personalize their risk and act sooner.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. absent: No stated severity or consequence beyond hazard name.
    2. absent: no stated consequence beyond naming the hazard
    3. absent: No explicit statement of harm beyond naming the hazard.
    4. absent: No explicit statement of potential harm beyond the hazard name.
    5. absent: No statement of potential consequences.
    6. absent: No stated potential harm beyond the hazard name.
    7. absent: No explicit statement of harm beyond naming shooter.
    8. absent: No explicit statement of potential harm beyond naming the hazard.
    9. absent: No explicit statement of potential harm beyond naming the hazard.
    10. present: 'This is not a test' implies real danger, though weak; still active shooter with urgency.
    11. absent: No stated severity or consequence beyond naming the hazard.
    12. absent: No explicit statement of potential harm beyond naming the shooter.
    13. absent: No explicit statement of potential harm beyond hazard name.
    14. absent: No explicit statement of potential harm beyond naming the hazard.
    15. absent: No explicit statement of harm beyond naming the hazard.
    16. present: 'This is not a test' conveys the seriousness of an active shooter threat.
    17. absent: No explicit statement of harm or severity beyond the hazard name.
    18. absent: No explicit statement of potential harm, though implied by hazard type.
    19. absent: No explicit statement of potential harm beyond naming the shooter.
    20. present: 'This is not a test' combined with active shooter implies serious life-threatening danger.
    21. absent: No explicit severity or consequence stated beyond hazard name.
    22. absent: No explicit statement of potential harm beyond the hazard name
    23. absent: No explicit statement of potential harm beyond naming the hazard.
    24. absent: No explicit statement of potential harm beyond the hazard name.
    25. absent: No explicit statement of potential harm beyond naming the hazard.

Systematic AI judgments with visible reasoning, not human-validated codings.

About this analysis
Context

Background

The UNLV shooting on December 6, 2023 illustrates two important trends in campus alert language. First, the typo ('shots fire') is a recurring phenomenon in crisis alerts composed under extreme stress, serving as an authenticity marker in the historical record. Second, the phrase 'This is not a test' represents institutions grappling with the unintended consequence of regular alert testing: students who have received dozens of test alerts may initially assume a real alert is another drill. The gunman, Anthony Polito, was a 67-year-old career professor who had applied for a position at UNLV and been rejected. He arrived on campus with a 9mm Taurus PT92 handgun and 11 magazines; nine loaded magazines (at least 160 rounds) were recovered from his person after he was killed by police. He was killed by campus police within minutes of the first shots, but the alert sequence continued for hours as buildings were cleared one at a time. The report of shots at the Student Union added confusion, as it expanded the perceived threat zone even after the shooter was already dead.
Analysis

Key Findings

Typos in crisis alerts ('shots fire') are recurring authenticity markers, not aberrations
'This is not a test' reflects institutional awareness of alert fatigue from regular testing
Two-stage confirmation pattern: 'report of shots' to 'confirmed active shooter'
Multi-location reports (Beam Hall and Student Union) created confusion even after the threat ended
Nearly eight hours elapsed between the shooting and full shelter-in-place lift despite the shooter dying within minutes
Outcome
Gunman Anthony Polito, 67, was killed in a shootout with University Police outside Beam Hall. Three UNLV faculty were killed: Patricia Navarro-Velez (39), an accounting professor; Cha Jan 'Jerry' Chang (64), an MIS professor; and Naoko Takemaru (69), an associate professor of Japanese Studies. A fourth faculty member, visiting professor Bot Rith (38), was critically wounded and was publicly identified in September 2024. Two responding officers also sustained minor injuries. Polito had applied for a UNLV professorship and was not hired; he was a former tenured associate professor at East Carolina University who resigned in 2017 and carried a 'target list' of former ECU colleagues, though none of his actual victims were on it. Police later said the shooter was nearly able to kill an officer before his gun jammed.
Provenance

Sources

Every claim on this page is meant to be checkable. Open the links below (and the Verify this quote control under each confirmed alert) to read the original university, news, or archive page yourself. Hostnames are shown so you can see where you are going; archived copies survive when live pages move or disappear. See also our methodology.

  1. Social
    RebelSAFE Twitter/X Account
    twitter.com
    archived copy
  2. Source
    2023 University of Nevada, Las Vegas shooting, Wikipedia
    en.wikipedia.org
    archived copy
  3. News
    Las Vegas Review-Journal coverage
  4. Source
    LVMPD December 6 Shooting Report
    lvmpd.com
    archived copy
  5. national media
    Suspect in UNLV shooting had more than 150 rounds of ammunition: Police - ABC News
    abcnews.com
    archived copy
  6. Official
    @unlv on X
    x.com
    archived copy
  7. Official
    @unlv on X
    x.com
    archived copy
  8. News
    LVMPD final investigative report on the December 6, 2023 UNLV shooting, quoting the 12:58 p.m. UNLV message; reproduced
    ktnv.com
    archived copy
Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "University of Nevada, Las Vegas: Gunman kills three faculty members in a campus building before dying in a police shootout." Incident of December 6, 2023. Added April 2026; last updated July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/unlv-shooting-2023-12-06/

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Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

Tags
active-shootertypo-in-alertthis-is-not-a-testrun-hide-fightalert-fatiguefaculty-targetedmulti-location-reportsextended-shelter-in-place2023
Added April 2026Updated July 2026Via ingestion