Professors identified as 2 victims killed in UNLV shooting, authorities say

LAS VEGAS — Officials with the Clark County coroner’s office have released the names of two of the three victims killed Wednesday when a gunman opened fire at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The victims were identified as professors Cha Jan “Jerry” Chang, 64, and Patricia Navarro Velez, 39, according to the Clark County coroner’s office. The coroner’s office said the third victim has been identified, but relatives have not yet been notified.

University President Keith E. Whitfield said in a letter to students and staff that the shooting “was the most difficult day in the history of our university.”

Navarro, an accounting professor, held a Ph.D. in accounting and was currently focused on research in cybersecurity disclosures and data analytics, according to the school’s website.

She joined UNLV nearly five years ago and focused on teaching accounting information systems, Whitfield said.

Chang was an associate professor in the business school’s Management, Entrepreneurship & Technology department. He held degrees from Taiwan, Central Michigan University and Texas A&M University, according to his online resume. He earned a Ph.D. in management information systems from the University of Pittsburgh and had been teaching at UNLV since 2001.

Whitfield described Chang as a longtime educator who spent more than 20 years of his career teaching a generation of UNLV business students.

UNLV shooting: Gunman kills 3, wounds 4th person on Las Vegas campus

“My heart breaks for the families, friends, and loved ones of Dr. Navarro and Dr. Chang, and for all of the victims of this senseless act of violence that has physically and emotionally affected so many,” Whitfield wrote.

Three people were killed when a gunman opened fire on the UNLV campus Wednesday.

A fourth gunshot victim, a UNLV faculty member, was taken to Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center in critical condition, authorities said. Their condition was later upgraded to stable, police said.

Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill identified the suspect as Anthony Polito. He was killed in a shootout with responding officers about 10 minutes after shots were first reported at UNLV’s Beam Hall, McMahill said at a media briefing Thursday.

Polito had applied for a college professorship at UNLV, but was not hired, sources told ABC News.

A motive remains under investigation.

The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.