Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James watches Game 1 in a WNBA basketball final playoff series between the Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty at Michelob Ultra Arena in Mandalay Bay Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023.
Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023 | 1:07 p.m.
As the NBA prepares to crown its first In-Season Tournament champion at T-Mobile Arena this weekend, Las Vegas is recovering following a campus shooting at UNLV.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James offered his condolences to the families and friends of the three pepole killed and one injured on Wednesday. The shooting took place while the four teams remaining in the tournament — the Lakers, New Orleans Pelicans, Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks — had concluded practice.
James, the four-time NBA champion and the league's all-time leading scorer, said it's a longer conversation to be had about gun control, but the story remains the same.
"The ability to get a gun, the ability to do these things over and over and over, and there's been no change, is literally ridiculous," James said Wednesday.
The Associated Press identified the suspect as 67-year-old Anthony Polito, a professor who unsuccessfully sought a job at UNLV after teaching at East Carolina University in North Carolina.
Two of the victims have been identified as UNLV professors. Patricia Navarro Velez, 39, was an assistant professor of accounting. Cha Jan Chang, 64, had been at the university since 2001 and taught a course in management information systems.
The third victim, a faculty member, who died has not been identified pending notification of family members. A fourth faculty member was wounded and was in stable condition at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.
"It makes no sense that we continue to lose innocent lives, on campuses, schools, at shopping markets and movie theaters and all type of stuff," James said. "The fact that we haven't changed anything, it's actually been easier to be able to own a firearm. It's stupid."
Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on Twitter at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.
