Who is Tony Polito? Las Vegas Shooting Suspect

[riversedge]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Lasher (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: newsweek




Dec 07, 2023 at 2:49 AM EST By Khaleda Rahman

The gunman who killed three people in a University of Nevada, Las Vegas building and wounded a fourth before dying in a shootout with police on Wednesday is reportedly a professor who had unsuccessfully sought a job at the school, according to reports.

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The suspect is 67-year-old Tony Polito, ABC News reported, citing multiple law enforcement sources. Polito had applied for a job at UNLV, but was not hired, the sources said.


He previously worked at East Carolina University in North Carolina, according to The Associated Press.


The only position listed on Polito's LinkedIn page is as an associate professor at the university from 2001 until 2017.

On the page, he described himself as a "semi-retired" college professor. He graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia and an MBA from Duke University, according to the page.

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Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/tony-polito-las-vegas-shooting-suspect-1850279

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https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/2319856/tony-polito.webp?w=790&f=13ae4735e12717bba0b96fc427add561
This composite image shows Tony Polito, the suspect in the shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He had applied for a job at UNLV but was not hired, sources said. Getty Images/LinkedIn

Link to tweet

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[Mike Nelson]

1. Hmm...

... sounds like they were correct in hot hiring this Professor. I'd even go further and state it's possible this Professor picked the wrong profession.

[riversedge]

2. Posts on

twitter are saying he is a Democrat. But I have seen no evidence.

[Mike Nelson]

5. I would say...

... that's possible. Still, there are more guns in the hands of "Conservative/Republicans" and they yell about their "2nd Amendment" rights to use them. They know mass shooters are threat to their power. They will shout "Antifa!" and "Biden Crime Wave!"

My guess is they see the shooter is a "Professor" and decide to get out early and label him a "Democrat." It's easy for the right to believe... education-professor-democrat... subsequent facts will get ignored. If Twitter is on the story, it doesn't even matter if it's true, anymore. There are still people who think Mr. Pelosi was attacked by a gay lover.

[NNadir]

14. The news reports say he was a fan of Alex Jones. That's hardly a Democrat.

[riversedge]

20. i know i know.

many pockets of twitter live their own world.

[BComplex]

3. 67. Trying to get hired.

After 50 or at most 55, prolly not going to happen.

Most of us who were turned down for jobs we were (over)qualified for didn't go around shooting people after we got turned down.

But older people need work, too.

[Demovictory9]

7. And professor.jobs are very very competitive

I don't thinkany would attempt change at age 67..

[Prairie Gates]

8. I would guess this was for an adjunct gig, not tenure track or even full time

At 67, he'd already played out most of his career at ECU, where they say he was an associate professor from 2001-2017. That would mean he was probably an assistant pofessor from 1995-2001 or thereabouts. (It's also unlikely that he would get a tenure track gig after that, since he didn't make full professor on schedule, so why would you hire him for a tenure-track role?). Sounds like he took an early retirement at 61 and moved to Vegas, so he was looking to pick up adjunct work (per class, per semester, low pay, few if any benefits, etc.).

I'm going to guess that this guy may have been a gambler, and that his funds were dwindling.

Correction: His complete time at ECU as professor was 2001-2017. That would presumably include both assistant and associate. He also taught there, probably as a graduate/adjunct 1992-1994, before entering the doctoral program at UGA. He was at UGA 1994-1998 or so, then in another gig at Northern Iowa before going back to ECU.

[riversedge]

4. The shooting victims were NOT students and Police have Polito's phone...........

What we know about the deceased UNLV gunman
ABC News reports that 67-year-old Tony Polito is the gunman who killed three and hospitalized 1 at UNLV.

https://www.ktnv.com/news/what-we-know-about-the-deceased-unlv-gunman-abc-news-reports


By: Justine Verastigue Posted at 11:28 PM, Dec 06, 2023
and last updated 1:32 AM, Dec 07, 2023


.............ABC says detectives have retrieved his phone and are now examining it for contents of clues about what could have motivated the killer's attack. Since the victims killed were not students, it suggests to investigators that the rampage was not random and could have been targeting certain people because of some previous relationship or interaction.

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On his personal website, Polito has published a 15-page document on the Zodiac Killer, claiming to have decoded some of the cryptic messaging from the Zodiac Killer. The website also lists the various courses he seems to have taught, with syllabi and schedules, the most recent one being a Business class from 2017 at East Carolina University.

On the website, Polito also has writing about Las Vegas; although it is not clear when these were written. He wrote that he had the pleasure of making more than two dozen trips to Vegas in the last 15 years.

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He has numerous endorsements from his colleagues at East Carolina University for his skills in student affairs, public speaking and teaching.....................

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[ancianita]

6. Thank you.

He wrote that he had the pleasure of making more than two dozen trips to Vegas in the last 15 years.

Betting that all those times he must have been interested in getting an academic job in Vegas.

[Prairie Gates]

9. The motive for these shootings is always the same

All the other kids have the pumped up kicks...

[TheRickles]

10. What sort of courses did he teach? I saw the MBA, but was curious about more details.... Thanks.

[Prairie Gates]

11. Business / Management

Interesting comment on his Rate my Professor:

"This is the best professor at ECU. He teaches in a way you actually learn things. the school is constantly trying to get him fired for no reason except his teaching practices are different. By different I mean better. Take Polito over everyone else."

(That's from 2016)

Another student, also very positive, says "This isn't taught as a 'typical' class which is looked down on but I have learned so much and retained the concepts in this class than any other class I have taken" (in other words, the students had a sense that other faculty had problems with his teaching methods).

The consensus seems to be that his classes were very easy, but the comments (before today, of course) are largely positive.

[Redleg]

13. "He teaches in a way you actually learn things."

I had to laugh at that one. Rate My Professor is a notoriously unhelpful indicator of a professor's teaching. I would put more faith in my own university's course evaluation system than relying on RMP for helpful information about my own teaching.

I agree that professors need to find effective ways to teach and this includes a great deal of active learning activities in the class. Part of the problem is that some students are passive learners and are unprepared for active learning activities. They haven't read the material, they haven't thought about the ideas, and they aren't ready to participate in any meaningful discussion.

We have had adjuncts in my department that had excellent course evaluations and gave mostly A's. Come to find out, some of these folks were just telling the students "war stories" from their time in business. They didn't use a text or other readings for a survey course. They were working full time at a job and teaching was just something they did in their spare time. There were others who were deserving of the praise they got from students. Their courses were rigorous, students learned a lot, and the professor treated them with fairness and respect. You wouldn't be able to tell the difference between these professors based on RMP.

[Prairie Gates]

21. Yes, that's all true

I do think it was interesting that the students are registering a tension in the department. That's not usually a feature of course evals.

I'm certainly not claiming that he was a good teacher based on these comments! Rate my Professor is a clown show. I'm not even that sold on the "official" teaching evaluations, which have all the problems you describe and more.

[Redleg]

22. I thought that was interesting too

We do hear students speak about their professors from time to time. I remind my students that these people are my colleagues and I prefer that they don't talk about them in front of me. It is strange that the students would be aware of tension within the department. It could be that the professor told them something about the situation as he perceived it.

For me, the only valid and reliable teaching evaluations are those that rate me very highly. Just kidding. It would be helpful if students would take a bit more time to explain some of their ratings. "Class sucked" or "the professor sucked" don't really help with improving education. Neither do comments like "best professor ever" and "loved this professor." Of course the positive comments leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling and negate my need to quaff straight gin while reading course evaluations.

[Kennah]

17. Gunsmithing?

[IronLionZion]

12. Someone whose story would end very differently without guns

[FailureToCommunicate]

15. We shouldn't care who he was or why it did it. Just why he -they- can always find...

and use guns as a way to settle whatever score they have in their twisted minds.

It's ALWAYS about the guns.

(And yes, some gun lover will post after mine, that 'deranged people can use other means' to kill. True. But guns are always the most successful.)

[Kennah]

16. What does UNLV policy say on shooting people?

[Redleg]

23. I get it!

A good one.

[Kennah]

18. His resume

https://tonypolito.com/vit_rez.pdf

[Kennah]

19. Software skills

Excel, Access, Paradox, Lotus 1-2-3, Wordperfect, Statgraphics, SPSS, SLAM, Lindo, DBase III+, Netware, Procomm+, QuickBASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL

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Never moved to DBase IV? Interesting.

[Redleg]

24. A sign of a mentally disturbed person

DBase IV is the go-to tool for all well-adjusted people. Ask anyone who uses it.

I am loving the sarcasm of your posts. I hope it is intentional.

[Lasher]

25. Locking, we see this as feature/analysis.