PHOENIX — A former University of Arizona student was arrested Wednesday after a shooting on the campus in Tucson, Ariz., left a professor dead, according to campus police.
The incident began around 2 p.m. when campus police received a call from someone inside the Harshbarger Building, which houses the Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, asking police to escort a former student outside the building.
Officers were en route when they received reports of a shooting that left one person injured and the shooter had fled, Campus Police Chief Paula Balafas said.
Firefighters transported the victim to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No other injuries were reported.
Arizona State Troopers arrested Murad Dervish, 46, in a vehicle about 120 miles northwest of the Tucson campus just hours after the shooting, Balafas said.
Balafas declined to identify the victim, but confirmed he was a professor of hydrology. She did not know what the history was between Dervish, who used a handgun, and the professor, but confirmed that Dervish was a former student of the professor.
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“We feel incredibly bad for the professor’s family, friends and colleagues. Our hearts really go out to them,” Balafas told a news conference. “It’s just one of those things that sometimes you can’t even predict.”
UA students received on-campus alerts about a shooting at the John W. Harshbarger building on the university’s main campus in Tucson and all in-person classes were canceled for the remainder of the school day .
University police blocked off the area surrounding the Harshbarger building and ordered people to stay away from the area, which was under lockdown. The building where the shooting happened is just northwest of the University Library and the Student Union.
Classes will resume Thursday, according to Balafas, but the building where the shooting occurred may remain closed.
Also 20 years ago this month, a disgruntled University of Arizona nursing student shot and killed three nursing professors before committing suicide.
Contribute: The Associated Press