THE gunman who killed three at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas mailed 22 letters, at least one of them containing a white powder, to colleges around the US before his rampage, police say.
Cops found a list of targets and a "last will" while searching Anthony Polito's home on Wednesday night, just hours after he shot dead three people at the college campus.
The gunman, a 67-year-old former business professor, was killed by university police.
It was revealed on Thursday that the shooter mailed 22 letters from a post office before the shooting.
Officials intercepted some of the letters and found an unknown white powder substance inside one, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said.
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The white powder was later found to be harmless, but LVMPD warned that any person or institution that receives a letter with no return address should proceed with caution and contact law enforcement immediately.
During their investigation, detectives also found a list of targets which contained names of people at UNLV and East Carolina University in North Carolina, where he worked for 16 years.
McMahill said that everyone on the list had been contacted aside from one who was onboard an international flight.
Investigators told ABC News they believed Polito spent a few minutes looking for the people on his list, but when he couldn't find them, began shooting at other victims who happened to be in the building.
“None of the individuals on the target list became a victim,” McMahill stressed.
The sheriff also added that Polito wrote a "last will and testament" type document that investigators found while searching an apartment in Henderson, Nevada, on Wednesday night.
It was found by a chair which had an arrow pointing down toward the document.
The semi-retired professor had applied to several higher education institutions in Nevada and was denied for each position before the shooting, but the LVMPD still has yet to confirm a motive.
Police believe the 67-year-old was struggling to make ends meet and acted alone in Wednesday's deadly shooting.
Polito brought 11 magazines and a nine-millimeter handgun he purchased legally in 2022 to the college campus, McMahill stated at the press conference.
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That firearm was used to kill three victims and injure four others.
VICTIMS NAMED
Two of the victims have been identified as Patricia Navarro, 39, and Professor Cha Han "Jerry" Chang, 64.
The coroner's office is working to identify next of kin of the third victim before releasing their name.
A fourth surviving victim, a 38-year-old visiting professor, was in life-threatening condition at the hospital as of Thursday night.
Polito went to the UNLV Lee Business School at around noon on Wednesday and walked around the fourth floor before opening fire.
The fourth floor of the business school holds offices for faculty of the accounting and marketing departments.
The shooter roamed other floors before exiting.
He was met at the entrance to the school by a UNLV police officer about 45 minutes after the first 911 calls were made.
Polito engaged the officer in a shootout and was killed.
During the harrowing events, UNLV sent a text out to all students once the active shooter was confirmed that read: "This is not a drill. Run, Hide, Fight."
UNLV President Keith E. Whitfield later released a letter to students and faculty calling the shooting an "unfathomable event."
"We will forever remember and honor those we have lost and who were injured," he noted.
"I’m grieving for the victims of today’s senseless shooting, and my heart breaks for the many students, faculty, staff, parents, loved ones and community members who suffered through hours of painful uncertainty while officers ensured that our campus was safe and secure again."
CHILLING WEBSITE
Polito resigned from East Carolina University as a tenured associate professor in January 2017 after working at the school since 2001.
As The U.S. Sun previously reported, other information, including a website the shooter kept about himself and various subjects, was also discovered.
The webpage included a 15-page theory about the Zodiac Killer among other eerie info.
There was a section titled "Powerful Organizations Bent on Global Domination!" that included a link to another page from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Polito listed his own conspiracy theories on several topics.
Some were about the Zodiac killer, others on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, and a theory behind the meaning of Christopher Nolan's Inception film.
In a another section about movies, Polito also described a love for "classic 'blonde' Hitchcock films" and a "'flawed' male versus the icy blonde" theme in older cinema.
The professor detailed his love for Las Vegas and how he had visited over two dozen times in the last 15 years.
"Over those years, my steel trap mind collected more information and trivia about Vegas than probably anyone in this state east of I-95 (at least)!" the website read.
