The University of Dayton men’s basketball team announced on Tuesday that it will not play its scheduled game against UNLV in Las Vegas, following a deadly shooting on the UNLV campus that left three people dead and one injured.
The shooting occurred on Monday night at Beam Hall, a building that houses the Lee Business School and the College of Engineering. According to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the shooter was a male student who went floor-to-floor and opened fire on random people before killing himself. The motive for the shooting is still unknown, and the identities of the victims have not been released.
The Dayton basketball team, which was staying at a hotel near the UNLV campus, expressed its condolences and solidarity with the UNLV community in a tweet. “Due to the tragic events unfolding on UNLV’s campus, tonight’s men’s basketball contest between UNLV and the University of Dayton will not be played. Further information will be released when available. We ask that our fans keep the UNLV community in their thoughts and prayers,” the tweet read.
UNLV President Keith Whitfield also issued a statement on the shooting, calling it a “horrific act of violence” that “shook us to our core.” He said that the university is offering counseling and support services to students, faculty, and staff, and that classes and operations will resume on Wednesday with increased security measures.
Due to the tragic events unfolding on UNLV’s campus, tonight's men's basketball contest between UNLV and the University of Dayton will not be played. Further information will be released when available. We ask that our fans keep the UNLV community in their thoughts and prayers.
— Dayton Basketball (@DaytonMBB) December 6, 2023
The shooting was the latest in a series of violent incidents that have plagued the Las Vegas area in recent months. In January, a shooting at a student housing complex near the UNLV campus injured one person and prompted a lockdown. In March, an argument led to a fatal shooting near the campus that killed one person and injured six others. In April, a man was arrested for allegedly plotting a terror attack involving the Islamic State group and targeting several locations in Las Vegas, including UNLV.
The Dayton-UNLV game was part of the Mountain West-Atlantic 10 Challenge, a series of games between teams from the two conferences. The game was supposed to be the first meeting between the two programs since 2008, when Dayton defeated UNLV 89-75 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It is unclear if the game will be rescheduled or canceled.
Certain information in this article was reported by the Associated Press.