3rd victim in UNLV shooting identified by coroner
- Naoko Takemaru is the third victim who was killed by a gunman at UNLV
- Takemaru, 69, was the head of UNLV's Japanese Studies Program
- Police have identified 67-year-old Anthony 'Tony' Polito as the gunman
Naoko Takemaru, 69, was killed after a gunman opened fire on the UNLV campus Wednesday.
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LAS VEGAS (NewsNation) — Naoko Takemaru, the 69-year-old head of the Japanese Studies Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has been identified as the third faculty member killed at UNLV after a gunman opened fire Wednesday.
Takemaru, an Associate Professor of Japanese Studies at UNLV, died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Clark County coroner’s office.
The 69-year-old oversaw the university’s Japanese Studies Program and taught classes on Japanese language, culture and business, per her university bio. During her time at the school, Takemaru received an award for excellence in teaching.
Two other victims in Wednesday’s attack, Professor Cha Jan “Jerry” Chang, 64 and Assistant Professor Patricia Navarro Velez, 39, had already been identified.
Chang was a “longtime educator” of management information systems, and spent more than 20 years of his academic career teaching students in the business school, UNLV President Keith Whitfield said in a statement.
Navarro-Velez was an assistant professor of accounting who was devoted to educating the next generation of accountants, Whitfield said. She had been at UNLV for five years.
Another victim, a visiting professor who was injured in the shooting, is in “life-threatening” condition after previously being stable, Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a news conference Thursday.
The attack started around 11:45 a.m. on Wednesday after a gunman opened fire on the fourth floor of the building that houses UNLV’s Lee Business School. The shooter, who authorities later identified as 67-year-old Anthony “Tony” Polito, went to several other floors before being killed in a shootout with police.
Polito, a former college professor, applied for a job at UNLV but was turned down, NewsNation affiliate KLAS reported. On Thursday, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said Polito had been “struggling financially” and that police found an eviction notice on his door.
The gunman had a list of targets at the school and more than 150 rounds of ammunition, police said.
