UNLV mass shooting victims: 3 professors ID’d
Written by ABC Audio All Rights Reserved on December 9, 2023
(LAS VEGAS) — Three faculty members were killed and one faculty member was injured in a mass shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Wednesday.
The suspect — who had applied for a college professorship at UNLV, but was not hired, according to sources — died at the scene following a firefight with police.
Here’s what we know about the victims:
Cha Jan Chang
Cha Jan Chang, 64, who was known as “Jerry,” was a UNLV business professor who lived in Henderson, Nevada, according to the Clark County coroner.
Chang was an assistant professor at UNLV from 2001 to 2007 and had been an associate professor since 2007.
He received both his masters and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.
“Dr. Chang was a longtime educator of management information systems, spending more than 20 years of his academic career teaching a generation of UNLV Lee Business School students,” UNLV President Keith Whitfield said in a statement on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Patricia Navarro Velez
Patricia Navarro Velez, 39, was an assistant professor in accounting at UNLV and lived in Las Vegas, according to the coroner.
She had a Ph.D. from the University of Central Florida.
“Navarro’s current research focuses on cybersecurity disclosures and assurance, internal control weakness disclosure, and data analytics,” her UNLV biography said.
“Dr. Navarro-Velez, an assistant professor of accounting, had devoted her career to educating the next generation of accountants,” Whitfield said. “She joined UNLV nearly 5 years ago as a professor of accounting, where she focused on teaching accounting information systems.”
Naoko Takemaru
Naoko Takemaru, 69, a Las Vegas resident, was an associate professor of Japanese studies at UNLV, according to the coroner and the university.
Takemaru oversaw the entire Japanese Studies Program and “received the William Morris Award for Excellence in Teaching from the College of Liberal Arts at UNLV,” according to her biography.
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