Police apprehend carjacking suspect after shooting on UNLV campus
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Gunshots were reported on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus Thursday afternoon. The shooter fled the scene, and the victims were unharmed. (Gabriella Benavidez/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
July 13, 2017 - 10:37 am
Updated July 14, 2017 - 12:09 am
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UNLV police investigate the scene where gunshots were fired at a parked truck, center, from a car on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto
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UNLV officials say someone is a car shot at a pickup truck near the public safety building, Thursday, July 13, 2017. The campus is on lockdown as police investigate. (Patrick Connolly/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
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A Metropolitan Police officer inspects a white Ford pickup truck after a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were shot at inside the truck on the campus of UNLV on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Patrick Connolly Las Vegas Review-Journal @PConnPie
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The UNLV campus is on lockdown as campus police investigate reports of gunshots, Thursday, July 13, 2017. (Patrick Connolly/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
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UNLV police investigate the scene where gunshots were fired at a parked truck, right, from a car on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto
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UNLV police investigate the scene where gunshots were fired at a parked truck from a car on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/8889524_web1_unlv-gunshots_071317cs_004.jpg)
UNLV police investigate the scene where gunshots were fired at a parked truck from a car on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/8889524_web1_unlv-gunshots_071317cs_005.jpg)
Students walk by as UNLV police investigate the scene where gunshots were fired at a parked truck from a car on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/8889524_web1_unlv-gunshots_071317cs_006.jpg)
UNLV police investigate the scene where gunshots were fired at a parked truck from a car on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/8889524_web1_unlv-gunshots_071317cs_007.jpg)
A Las Vegas police crime scene investigator at the scene where gunshots were fired at a parked truck from a car on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/8889524_web1_unlv-gunshots_071317cs_008.jpg)
UNLV police investigate the scene where gunshots were fired at a parked truck from a car on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/8889524_web1_unlv-gunshots_071317cs_009.jpg)
UNLV police investigate the scene where gunshots were fired at a parked truck from a car on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/8889524_web1_unlv-gunshots_071317cs_010.jpg)
UNLV police investigate the scene where gunshots were fired at a parked truck from a car on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/8889524_web1_unlv-gunshots_071317pc_001.jpg)
Metropolitan Police congregate after a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were shot at inside their white Ford pickup truck on the campus of UNLV on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Patrick Connolly Las Vegas Review-Journal @PConnPie
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The truck in which a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were shot at on the campus of UNLV on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Patrick Connolly Las Vegas Review-Journal @PConnPie
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The crime scene after a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were shot at inside their white Ford pickup truck on the campus of UNLV on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Patrick Connolly Las Vegas Review-Journal @PConnPie
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The truck in which a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were shot at on the campus of UNLV on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Patrick Connolly Las Vegas Review-Journal @PConnPie
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/8889524_web1_unlv-gunshots_071317pc_005.jpg)
UNLV police walk around the crime scene after a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were shot at inside their white Ford pickup truck on the campus of UNLV on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Patrick Connolly Las Vegas Review-Journal @PConnPie
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UNLV Police Chief José A. Elique gives a press briefing after a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were shot at inside their white Ford pickup truck on the campus of UNLV on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Patrick Connolly Las Vegas Review-Journal @PConnPie
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/8889524_web1_unlv-gunshots_071317pc_007.jpg)
UNLV Police Chief José A. Elique gives a press briefing after a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were shot at inside their white Ford pickup truck on the campus of UNLV on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Patrick Connolly Las Vegas Review-Journal @PConnPie
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/8889524_web1_unlv-gunshots_071317pc_008.jpg)
UNLV Police Chief José A. Elique gives a press briefing after a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were shot at inside their white Ford pickup truck on the campus of UNLV on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Patrick Connolly Las Vegas Review-Journal @PConnPie
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/8889524_web1_unlv-gunshots_071317pc_009.jpg)
A police officer patrols the UNLV campus after a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were shot at inside their white Ford pickup truck on the campus of UNLV on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Patrick Connolly Las Vegas Review-Journal @PConnPie
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/8889524_web1_unlv-gunshots_071317pc_010.jpg)
A Metropolitan Police officer inspects a white Ford pickup truck after a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were shot at inside the truck on the campus of UNLV on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Patrick Connolly Las Vegas Review-Journal @PConnPie
![](https://develop.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/8889524_web1_unlv-gunshots_071317pc_012.jpg)
UNLV police officers walk around a crime scene after a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were shot at inside their white Ford pickup truck on the campus of UNLV on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Patrick Connolly Las Vegas Review-Journal @PConnPie
A serial carjacking suspect who fired several rounds at a woman and her 11-year-old daughter on the UNLV campus Thursday morning has been taken into custody in California.
Authorities confirmed Thursday night that the carjacker was apprehended in San Bernardino County. Police had not identified the carjacker as of press time and continue to investigate.
The gunfire triggered a campus-wide lockdown Thursday morning, but no one was injured in what the woman described as a possible road rage incident.
The shooting occurred just before 10:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the public safety building, which is associated with the UNLV Police Department, police said.
The woman, who was driving a white pickup truck, told officers she drove onto campus to get away from a pursuing car, UNLV Police Department Chief Jose Elique said. After entering the campus at Swenson Street and Harmon Avenue and parking near the public safety building, the occupant of the car fired seven to nine rounds at the pickup truck. The woman told police she thought it was a road rage incident.
Henderson police officer Scott Williams, a department spokesman, said police later tied the suspect in the UNLV shooting to a string of violent carjackings that began Tuesday in Las Vegas.
“We’ve learned that it’s all connected,” he said.
After determining that the gunman had fled following the UNLV shooting, police coned off the parking lot for a crime scene investigation. Broken glass littered the parking lot and bullet holes could be seen above the driver side door.
The shooting at UNLV prompted an emergency notification to students and staff stating that gunshots had been reported near the public safety building, on the west side of campus near the library, and warning them to stay inside and lock their doors.
Austin Bayardo, 21, was in his math class nearby when he heard an alarm. A display screen in the room displayed a message informing students about the shooting and to stay inside and lock the doors. He said he didn’t receive a text notification but others around him did.
The campus was later reopened, but police asked the public to avoid the scene of the investigation.
Williams, the Henderson police spokesman, said that after the UNLV shooting, the man is believed to have stolen a vehicle at gunpoint from a garage in the 300 block of Lyon Avenue. He later jumped a wall into an apartment complex near Green Valley Parkway and Warm Springs Road, about a mile away, and took another vehicle.
A Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson declined to provide details on the crimes the man is suspected of committing earlier in the week.
Williams said an interagency investigation is ongoing.
Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Follow @WesJuhl on Twitter. Review-Journal write Blake Apgar contributed to this report.