LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — In the wake of the killings of three educators on the UNLV campus last week, a group of students urged action on gun violence prevention.
Students who were present during the shooting partnered with Rise Nevada to voice their concerns on Thursday.
Chris Solomon, state director of RISE Nevada, said they were in the middle of their inaugural training, where college students are taught to be political organizers and issue-advocacy organizers in the student union the day of the shooting.
"What was a great fun training was disrupted by another mass violent shooting. We are still shaken up, but we think that in this space, we want to call action," he said. "Every time we get into a gun debate, it disappears and we just don't revisit it again."
"I will be forever haunted by the decision that I had to make of whether to tell my parents goodbye. I will forever be haunted by the image of blood on concrete," said UNLV student Millan 'Mack' Gledhill. "It's time that we stop asking for change and it's time that we start demanding it."
A student at UNLV who is also an Army veteran, Hunter Cain, said at the conference that he's graduating next week. He says one of the first things needed to solve a problem is to admit there is a problem.
"We are living in a culture of violence," he said. "This is a call to action for students to support a campaign or to run for office because we are not able to trust our current leaders right now."
Police have said the gunman, who had unsuccessfully sought a job at UNLV, purchased the firearm used in the shooting legally in 2022. Police identified the weapon as a Taurus 9mm handgun and noted the shooter brought at least 11 magazines with additional ammunition to campus on Wednesday, Dec. 6.
RISE, a non-profit organization that seeks to encourage political participation among college students and youth, said in a press release that UNLV students would "share firsthand accounts (of the shooting) and urge leaders to take action for gun violence prevention.
