LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Classes are expected to resume in the fall at the UNLV building where four staff members were shot last December.
That's according to the latest "Rebel Recovery Update" from university president Keith E. Whitfield.
Since December, Frank and Estella Beam Hall has been closed amid an investigation into the shooting and repair of damages done during law enforcement's initial search and evacuation.
Body-worn camera footage from the day of the shooting showed that officers were unable to access many locked rooms in Beam Hall and began battering through the drywall in an effort to ensure neither shooter nor victims were concealed inside.
Beam Hall will reopen with additional security measures in place, Whitfield explained, which include:
- adding electronic access controls to elevators and requiring key cards to access floors three through five
- limiting stairwell access so those doors can only be used as exits
- installing additional security cameras in public areas of the first floor
- posting a security officer in the atrium of the building throughout the fall semester
In addition to the planned reopening of Beam Hall, UNLV was awarded $2.6 million from the Nevada System of Higher Education to support security staffing at the school and other institutions in Southern Nevada.
Private security contracted to patrol the campus in the aftermath of the shooting will remain in place through the end of the calendar year, Whitfield stated. Those security staff are on campus seven days a week, he noted.
Students will be able to give feedback on these efforts at an "All-Hands" meeting at 9 a.m. April 15 in the Student Union Ballroom, Whitfield noted.
