LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – UNLV announced on Tuesday that the building where four people were shot last December will be reopening for the upcoming fall semester.
In January, the university announced that Beam Hall would remain closed for the spring semester “to help our community recover.”
On Dec. 6, a gunman – identified as 67-year-old Anthony Polito – entered Beam Hall, fatally shot three faculty members and critically injured a fourth. Las Vegas police said the suspect went to several other floors of the business school before he was killed in a shootout with two university police detectives outside the building.
The most recent “Rebel Recovery Update” from UNLV President Keith E. Whitfield announced Beam Hall’s reopening alongside news of $2.6 million in federal funds to support supplemental security staffing around the campus.
“We have been working closely with the two deans whose units use that building, and we are getting input from department chairs, faculty, and staff and outlining what additional measures can be taken to elevate security measures in the building,” Whitfield said.
According to the letter, this includes adding “electronic access controls to elevators and requiring key cards to access floors three through five; limiting stairwell access so those doors can only be used as exits; installing additional security cameras in public areas of the first floor; and posting a security officer in the atrium of the building throughout the fall semester.”
All new security measures will be completed before the fall semester, and will “serve as a pilot for future enhancements to other campus buildings.”
Whitfield concluded the letter, “I continue to be impressed by the resiliency of our UNLV community. Throughout this spring semester, you’ve shown grace and compassion to one another. You’ve exhibited an understanding in your interactions with colleagues and students that we’re all at different stages of the recovery process – and that we’re all in this together. You show every day what it means to be UNLV Strong, and I truly thank you.”
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