PHOENIX – A former University of Arizona student was arrested Wednesday after a shooting on the campus in Tucson, Arizona, 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, requesting that police heard a former student outside the building.
Officers were en route when they received reports of a shooting that left one person injured and that the gunman had fled, said Campus Police Chief Paula Balafas.
Firefighters took the victim to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No other injuries have been reported.
Arizona state troopers stopped Murad Dervish, 46, in a vehicle about 120 miles northwest of the Tucson campus within hours of the shooting, Balafas said.
Balafas declined to identify the victim, but confirmed he was a hydrology professor. He didn’t know what the story was between Dervish, who used a gun, and the professor, but he confirmed that Dervish is a former student of the professor.
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“We feel very bad for the teacher’s family, friends and colleagues. Our hearts go out to them,” Balafas said during a news conference. “It’s just one of those things that sometimes you can’t even predict.”
UA students received campus alerts about a shooting that took place in 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 cordoned off the area surrounding the Harshbarger building and ordered people to stay away from the area, which was locked down. The building where the shooting occurred is located northwest of the university bookstore and student union.
Classes will resume Thursday, Balafas said, but the building where the shooting happened may remain closed.
It was also 20 years ago this month that a disgruntled University of Arizona nursing student shot and killed three nursing professors before taking his own life.
Contributor: The Associated Press
