An active shooter wounded several people at the University of Nevada’s Las Vegas campus in a horror 40-minute spree before being killed, police said.
A huge police presence including tactical teams were seen scrambling to the college after an alert was issued to students warning them to ‘RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.’
Less than an hour after the alert was released, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced the suspect was deceased. The force said the investigation is ongoing.
Officials said ‘multiple victims’ had been targeted in the attack, however it is unclear how many individuals may have been killed or injured, or what the extent of their injuries are.
Early reports indicate additional shots may have been fired in the college’s student union, and officials are continuing to evacuate buildings one at a time as they urge students to remain sheltering in place.
At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff Kevin McMahill said there is ‘no further threat’ to the university, but officials have ‘no idea on a motive’ for the horrific scenes.
Tactical teams were seen moving through the University of Nevada’s Las Vegas campus as students were cautioned to ‘RUN-HIDE-FIGHT’
Terrified students were seen being evacuated from the campus on Wednesday following reports of an active shooter on campus, with multiple victims believed to be hit
Multiple people are believed to be injured, however officials have not said how many people were targeted or the extent of their injuries
A huge police presence descended on the campus, and officials confirmed the suspect was dead less than an hour after an alert went out warning students of a school shooter
Footage shared to social media appears to show tactical crews moving through the campus, with officers seen scoping out the scene from a building’s roof.
Officials said several victims have been rushed to a local hospital, with one reportedly placed on alert for a ‘mass casualty event.’
The campus is in the heart of Las Vegas across from the Harry Reid International Airport and near to the city’s strip, just a few miles from the site of the city’s worst mass shooting in 2017, when a gunman opened fire on the crowd at the Route 91 Music Festival, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds more.
At the same time the campus was placed on lockdown, the airport said flights were being impacted because of a ‘security incident.’
A witness to the attack told Fox News they heard several shots ring out through the campus, before they were evacuated by police.
‘(I heard) boom, boom, boom, more shots,’ she said. ‘So I ran into the basement and I heard shots outside, heard police, and then the police just evacuated me out.
‘I had my hands over my head and yeah, I was hearing a lot of shots. I did not know how many shooters there were. I did not really know anything.’
The shooting occurred in the heart of Las Vegas near to the strip and the Harry Reid International Airport
Tactical officers were seen scoping the scene from a building’s roof as the campus was placed on lockdown
Students were led out of buildings one at a time, as officials insisted the investigation into the shooting is ongoing
An English professor at UNLV, Vincent Perez, told MSNBC that he heard seven or eight loud gunshots ‘one after another’ when he inspected the campus from the balcony of a building.
‘We realized this is a real shooting, and there’s an active shooter on campus,’ he said.
‘It just sounded like a high-powered weapon — just echoing, echoing in a way that … makes you realize this is somebody out to kill people.’
‘We could hear the gunshots from where we were. It was about 200 kids all in one space and a lot of people were panicking,’ another witness said.
They said the group were in the middle of a presentation in a board room of the student union, which flew into a panic as everyone inside received a text alert at the same time.
‘They said they put the building on lock down,’ they said.
‘They shut all the curtains. Everyone moved to one side of the room. After that, it was a lot of waiting for 20 minutes and we got told to move to a corner.
‘And we heard a lot of yelling. That is where stuff started to get more hectic… the yelling was officers and they came in and we all put our hands up and they escorted us all the way out here… I did see one glass shattered, it looks like by two gunshots.’
A witness to the chaos said they heard ‘screaming’ from the room next to them, and the situation left them terrified
Officials said several victims have been transported to local hospitals, as they insisted investigations into the shooting are ongoing
Another witness in the student union said they could hear ‘screaming from next door’ as they lay in hiding.
‘We were located at the student union, which is where it all went down. But it was just super scary hearing that. We all as a class… we were just so scared,’ they said.
‘I feel like we should have shut the lights off or something. But we definitely went in the corner, evacuated, and, you know, we wanted more because we got these alerts and we were kind of scared.’
The terrified students praised the university’s reaction to the shooting, saying they had rolling updates ‘that was great.’
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday she was aware of the shooting.
‘Obviously, we’re going to continue to monitor what’s currently occurring. I don’t want to get ahead of what local enforcements are probably dealing with at this time,’ she said.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk