LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Students prepared the decorations for UNLV’s Winter Fest stage in the shadow of Beam Hall Thursday night, reflecting on the building’s safety on the eve of the Dec. 6 mass shooting.
Ryan Nunez, a UNLV student, worked on the finishing touches for the end-of-semester event as he helped lay out smore supplies for attendees. Students mentioned the work for events like Winter Fest is meant to help students look toward the campus’s future, and when appropriate reflect on last year’s mass shooting.
“I feel like a lot has happened since December 6,” Nunez said. “I think it was a reaction that the whole UNLV community has been more attentive towards what kind of security presence we have at campus, and I feel like it’s increased a lot.”
Most of the additional security is not meant to take any enforcement action, according to UNLV Police Services, however, they can help in emergency situations, acting in a proactive manner.
“I’ve [seen] a lot more personnel on campus,” Nunez said. “It also shows that we are now seeing more things that can help students and let them know that they are safer.”
Allister Dias, president of the Consolidated Students of UNLV, explained how the anniversary pulls back memories for many students like him who were on campus the day of the shooting.
“I went on to the balcony, and I heard kind of several large pops go off and immediately knew that was gunshots,” Dias said. “We ran out the side of the Student Union Building, where you started to hear more gunshots, and more police start piling up.”
Dias said most students he has spoken to have felt as though there has been an adequate amount of security added in the year since the shooting, however said it is normal for students to ask for more.
“I think the issue of security really depends on what students you ask,” Dias said. “I think there is an area where some students may feel like maybe more should be done, but I think for the most part, a majority of students that I talked to and kind of gotten feedback from say that they feel to some level, a little bit more safer, especially in Beam Hall with the new security.”
A ceremony to remember and reflect on the events of December 6 will be held Friday at the Alumni Amphitheater. Students and staff will showcase art which is intended to help attendees reckon with and heal from the mass shooting on campus.
