Patricia Navarro Velez
Cha Jan Chang
Two of the three victims who died in campus shooting at UNLV were college professors, the Clark County coroner announced today.
Patricia Navarro Velez, 39, died of multiple gunshot wounds, the coroner said. Cha Jan Chang, 64, died of a gunshot wound to the head, the coroner said.
The identity of the third person, also a faculty member, who died was not released, pending notification of family members, the coroner said.
A fourth faculty member who was shot was in stable condition at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, authorities said.
The man suspected of carrying out the shooting was a career professor who unsuccessfully sought a job at the university, according to reports.
The Associated Press identified the suspect as 67-year-old Anthony Polito, who previously worked at East Carolina University in North Carolina. He was killed in a shootout with UNLV Police, authorities said.
“Yesterday was the most difficult day in the history of our university,” UNLV President Keith Whitfield said in a statement today. “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.”
Whitfield said he met today with students living on campus. He stressed the importance of being available to console one other, “to listen, to comfort, and let them know we care deeply about them and their well-being.”
“I won’t sugarcoat it. We are all hurting right now," he said. "But it’s in these trying times that we need to lean on one another for support.”
He said he was working to determine the timing of the remainder of the semester, including finals next week and the winter commencement. He said he expected to issue an update Friday.
“We can and will get through this together if we help one another,” he said.
Navarro was an assistant professor of accounting and had an office on the fourth floor of Beam Hall, where the shooting was initially reported.
Her research focused on cybersecurity disclosures and assurance, internal control weakness disclosure and data analytics, according to her university biography. She taught courses in accounting information systems.
Navarro held a doctorate degree from the University of Central Florida, a master’s from Bowling Green State University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Puerto Rico at Ponce.
Navarro was a certified information systems auditor.
Chang, know best as Jerry, had been a professor at the university since 2001, most recently teaching a course in management information systems, according to his online resume. His office was located on the third floor of Beam Hall.
He previously taught at the University of Pittsburgh, where he holds doctorate and master’s degrees.