LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The deadly active shooter situation on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on Wednesday brought out the raw emotion in some students.
For Matthew Felsenfeld, the confusion and fear took him to an urgent task.
“It’s the moment you call your parents and let ’em know you love ’em. You know, it’s the moment you call ’em. That’s it. You get no other moment if that active shooter comes in,” Felsenfeld told Nexstar’s KLAS in an interview at UNLV.
“I called my mom, called my grandma, called my friends, called every single person and started texting people, and they all texted me back, ‘I love you,'” he continued. “Don’t forget to do that, always tell people you love them, because you never know when the last day is.”
The shooting began shortly before noon on Wednesday on the fourth floor of the Beam Hall, Frank and Estella Building, home of UNLV’s Lee Business School. The shooting moved to other floors in the building before authorities “engaged in a shootout” with the suspect outside.
The suspect was pronounced dead shortly after the shooting, but a cause of death wasn’t immediately available.
Three people have died as a result of the shooting, and a fourth person remains in the hospital in stable condition as of Wednesday night. Additional information about the victims has not yet been released.
Authorities spent hours evacuating the campus after confirming there was no longer a threat to the community.
Felsenfeld was in a classroom with about 14 other students when the active shooter alerts started coming in. They barricaded the classroom door in a building near the student union, and then they waited for updates.
“It’s sad that I know how to barricade a door,” he said. “And I know that I should know how to do it, but I shouldn’t have to do it. I’m in a college classroom. I’m learning about the First Amendment and society, something that could better my knowledge. And now I’m not learning about that because I’m dealing with an active … I’m in an active shooter situation.”
The UNLV student was a bundle of nerves as he recounted what happened.
“I wasn’t even close to it, and I’m still scared out of my mind right now, and I’m not a person that gets scared like that,” Felsenfeld said.
Felsenfeld said everyone in the classroom was scared, watching what was going on through windows and waiting for each alert update. He had good things to say about his instructor and the rapid response from police. But his nerves were still on edge.
“I’m obviously frantic, I’m scared. I’m glad I’m out and I pray for every single person that was in there and I hope every single person got out. You know, I’m just nervous,” he said.
“When it comes down to it, you’re in a shock-fear. You don’t know what’s going on. You’re just trying to survive. You don’t know where [the shooter] is at that moment,” he said.
Felsenfeld talked about how frequent shootings have become on college campuses and said a solution has to come.
“Now, we’re towards the end of the semester, and are students going to want to come back next semester? Not because of UNLV, but just because of society in a whole. Are they going to want to come back now that we know people can come on our camps and shoot? Thank gosh we’ve got a good police presence,” he said.