What can you tell us about the UNLV shooter?

UNLV shooter Anthony Polito was apparently a Las Vegas aficionado. His web page, http://tonypolito.com, has a link to Anthony Curtis’ Las Vegas Advisor, among many others. Can you reveal whether he was an LVA subscriber? What else can you tell us about this disturbed individual? Any similarities with Stephen Paddock?

Anthony Polito, who shot three UNLV faculty members to death and was then himself shot to death by Metro police, was 67 years old.

According to information on Polito’s personal website, he earned an an undergraduate degree in mathematics and statistics from Radford University in Virginia, an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke, and a Ph.D. in management from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. He was a career professor whose last job was at Eastern Carolina University, where he worked from 2001 through early 2017. It was recently learned that he'd made a sexual comment about a student's low-cut blouse a few days before resigning his position, after she complained to the administration. After that, it seems he considered himself semi-retired, though he had applied for a position at UNLV, along with other colleges sometime prior to the shooting and was turned down each time. He was living in Las Vegas at the time of the shooting, a city he claimed to love, even though he wasn't a gambler.

Oddly, also on his website, he claimed to have solved the Zodiac Killer case. Also, just days before his rampage, he sent personal letters to 20-plus university professors across the country Polito had worked with or taken classes from, publishing the contents on his site. Apparently, the letters were full of rage and paranoia, accusing the recipients of domestic violence, pedophilia, and "ruining students' minds."

And yes, he knew who we were, but according to our sales records, we don't show any purchases and he definitely wasn't a subscriber.

As for the other lunatic, a day after his rampage, it was discovered that Stephen Paddock was a high roller and possibly a skilled one. (Anthony later decided that he was a losing player who was in it for the comps and attending ass-kissing.) So there's no similarity there between Polito and Paddock.

Also unlike Polito, who wasn't an LVA customer, Paddock had not only purchased a number of products from us, almost all for video poker, he'd actually been an LVA member in the early 2000s.

Finally, Paddock shot himself just as the police were battering down the door to his hotel room in Mandalay Bay, while Polito was shot and killed in a shootout by two officers who confronted him in a hallway in the UNLV building where the other shootings took place.

So the only similarity appears to be that they were both homicidal maniacs without whom the world is much better off.

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Kevin Lewis Dec-26-2023

Why even mention his name

I don't want to know his name, the details of his life, or what he did before he went on his rampage. His life and deeds aren't worthy of discussion. The world would have been better off had he been stillborn.

Bury him in an unmarked grave. Liquidate his assets and give them to the survivors. Destroy his birth record, his school records, his work records, his tax records. Delete or destroy anything he ever wrote or said that was recorded. Make him, as in "1984," an "unperson."

And if he ever must be referred to in the future, it should be something like "Shooter 1,982." Needless to say, this applies to the other guy that was mentioned. Never say their names again. NEVER!

shadow520 Dec-26-2023

Kevin Lewis

What he said.  We need to stop giving these guys their "fame".

sunny78 Dec-26-2023

qod not over the line

Virtue Signaling alert.

Disagree. QOD is valid and not over the line, reported on reality. Reality can be harsh. Fragile feelings don't apply here. Censorship of reality shouldn't apply. Enough 1984 as it is. Doesn't mean reality should be buried and not reported. Populace should be aware of it and to learn from it. Shows others who think of doing such things such actions won't be tolerated by not coddling such filth.

Kevin Lewis Dec-26-2023

"Virtue signaling"???

Is that just another trigger word? I can't help but feel that you mightily restrained yourself from saying "woke woke woke woke woke."

It's simple. These people forfeited their humanity, in the most horrible and reprehensible way. I don't want to give them back their humanity by discussing their lives as if they were still human beings. They're not.

Jon Anderson Dec-26-2023

nut jobs/fame

some of these nut jobs do what they do to become famous so i fully agree with kevin...don't give these lowlifes any name mention or glorify their existence...just number 'em or code 'em and let them fade into the nothing they deserve...our news groups tend to give these zeroes the "fame" they're seeking...shameful and an injustice to the victims who should be the ones glorified and remembered...kudos to kevin...

sunny78 Dec-26-2023

"triggered"

From the one who is endlessly "triggered" and angry over so much off-topic and beyond for years on this QOD talking his "humanity" of anger? uh huh. lol. And btw social media is where this stuff gets discussed about most often. You want to 1984 social media also? I bet you would.

You missed my point. Actions have consequences in life. Burying reality solves nothing just cause your feelings are hurt. It should be a teaching moment, a hindrance for such future behavior. It's highlighting consequences time in that who does such a thing will face consequences. In my view, that means 100% death penalty. Within months of being convicted in a judge and jury trial. Not decades of coddling, poor lunatic is mentality ill type thing and endless appeals that's common today. And if this action and consequence is broadcast far and wide, which it should be, a few future attention seeking psychos will take note. If not as nothing is 100%? Quick death penalty for the next psycho. Win-win.

Kevin Lewis Dec-26-2023

sunny78

You're babbling. And death penalty for mass shooter discussions are moot, because very few of them survive their acts.

sunny78 Dec-26-2023

qod

Very few is still one too many. And QOD authors, the media, social media and et al still have the right to talk details on the events despite your 1984 dream edict.

Stewart Ethier Dec-26-2023

Motivation

It's important to try to understand the motivation of serial killers and mass shooters, and FBI profilers put a great deal of effort into doing this.  Keeping their names out of the press is probably not helpful.

We will probably never know for sure what motivated Polito and Paddock, but it is easy to speculate.  Polito, an academic who had a higher opinion of himself than his record warranted, was likely triggered by his inability to get a position at UNLV.  Paddock, who apparently thought himself a better video poker player than he actually was, was likely pushed over the edge by his large gambling losses.

Question of the Day - 26 December 2023

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