UNLV shooting: Harrowing 911 calls show inside look at chaos on campus

(LAS VEGAS) — When gunfire erupted at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a woman hiding alone under an office desk called 911 in tears.

“Someone’s shooting inside the office,” she said. “Please hurry.”

The operator asked her how long ago she heard the shots, and she responded, “They’re happening right now.”

The operator asked if anyone else was with her, and she replied, “It’s just me. My boss is working from home.”

Newly released 911 calls provide a heartbreaking look inside the chaos on campus during Wednesday’s mass shooting in which killed three faculty members were killed and and one faculty member was injured.

The suspected gunman, Anthony Polito, who was armed with a legally purchased handgun, died at the scene following a firefight with responding officers about 10 minutes after shots were first reported at UNLV’s Beam Hall.

The officers were identified on Friday as Det. Nathaniel Drum, who has been employed with the University Police services since 2017, and officer Damien Garcia, who has been on the force since 2018.

Per department policy, both officers have been placed on administrative leave amid an investigation into the shooting, according to Adam Garcia, police chief for the University Police Services Southern Command.

“These two officers are heroes,” Garcia said during a press briefing on Friday. “They kept the worst from becoming a bloodbath.”

A second 911 caller said, “I was getting off the elevator. I heard shots fired and screaming and I ran … Lots of students are running out … Two officers ran into the building and I ran out of the building.”

Scared parents also called 911 reporting that their children were hiding in classrooms.

One mom said her daughter could hear the gunshots. While the mom was on the phone with 911, she got a text from her daughter saying, “Mom, I’m scared.”

The operator said the mother should tell her daughter “to stay calm — and tell her do not open that door unless she hears them yelling. They will announce, ‘Metro police.'”

The investigation is ongoing.

Polito had applied for a college professorship at UNLV but was not hired, according to sources.

Police said Polito had a list of people “he was seeking” at UNLV, but none of the individuals on the target list were victims in the shooting.

Authorities believe Polito spent a few minutes looking for people on the list, but was unsuccessful in finding them and then shot other victims who happened to be in the building, a law enforcement source told ABC News.

ABC News’ Vanessa Navarrete and Cory Peeler contributed to this report.

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