We’re learning more about 1 of the 3 victims killed in a rampage at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas this week.
ChaJan “Jerry” Chang was a professor at the Lee Business School, reported KLAS. Police say another professor who had been turned down for a job at UNLV killed the 64 year old and two others- Assistant Professor Patricia Navarro Velez, 39 and a third faculty member whose identity has not been released pending notification of relatives. A fourth victim, a visiting professor, is battling life threatening injuries, according to MEAWW.
Police gunned down the suspect Anthony Polito who they say had a list of targeted victims. None of those killed were on that list.
A report from the coroner indicates Chang died of a gunshot wound to the head. He had been teaching at UNLV since 2001. He’s been published in numerous academic journals and has been a featured speaker at many conferences.
WOOD reports Chang graduated from Central Michigan University with a master’s degree in computer science in 1986.
Chang also had a Ph.D. from management information systems from the University of Pittsburgh.
Polito is believed to be the same person who had mailed 22 letters to university professors across the United States. At least one of those letters had an unknown white powdery substance, reported Daily Mail. Authorities also searched an apartment in nearby Henderson and seized Polito’s cell phone and his last will and testament.
He worked as a professor in North Carolina from 2001 to 2017. One of his former students said Polito had a fascination with Las Vegas and often talked about his trips there. The student also described him as vindictive and that he would seek to identify students who left him bad reviews.
“He didn’t get a lot of it, but there would always be one student every semester, or at least one student every class, that would give a negative review. And he fixated on those,” said Paul Whittington.
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