LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The only person to survive the Dec. 6, 2023, shooting rampage at UNLV said the school must continue with courage.
UNLV honored and remembered on Friday the three professors killed a year ago.
“A year ago, my life was nearly taken by an act of evil. Through this tragic incident, I found a way to survive,” Daraboth Rith said. “We are far stronger than we ever realize.”
Rith was among the professors inside Beam Hall when the gunman, identified as Anthony Polito, stormed in and killed three people. A university police officer shot and killed Polito, 67, about 10 minutes into the mass shooting.
There were displays honoring those who died, including murals and a paper crane display.
Rith has recounted thinking he wouldn’t survive from his injuries. But he did and had to re-learn how to walk.
“Resilience isn’t something we recognize in the moment. It’s what emerges when we rise, time and time again,” Rith said.
Unfortunately, three of his colleagues did not survive: Jerry Chang, Patricia Navarro Velez, and Naoko Takemaru. Three wreaths stood front and center at UNLV’s Alumni Amphitheater to honor them Friday.
A year later, a professor who was on campus the day of the shooting told 8 News Now he still doesn’t feel safe.
“It’s obvious to anybody with eyes and ears to talk to our colleagues here who witnessed what happened, and saw the killer pass white people to kill non-white people,” Roberto Lovato, a UNLV professor, said.
As for the students, they are finding ways to heal. One way is the paper crane display inside Beam Hall. Adrian Venzuela was helping build them. He was in the university’s main library the day of the shooting and credits his peers for helping him cope with the tragedy.
“I’m glad that me and my friends kept tabs on each other and we helped each other. Help stay grounded in the following days after that,” Venzuela said.
UNLV President Keith Whitfield said the school has taken steps to make the campus more secure, but the trauma from the shooting may still impact some people’s sense of safety.
“Being able to recover from a tragedy is just not uniform. You can’t say, ‘Oh, you do these three steps and you’ll be fine.’ It takes people … time. Different people are just on different trajectories.”
Fifty security cameras will be installed around campus this spring, according to UNLV officials.
The university will also add new license plate readers in the spring at the entrances and parking garages for its Maryland Parkway and Shadow Lane campus locations.
