University of Arizona alumnus who reportedly Shot dead Officials said the process of banning 52-year-old Professor Thomas Mexner from campus was underway on Wednesday afternoon.
According to officials, Mexner, head of the university’s Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences Program Department, was hired by Murad Darwish as John W. Inside the Hershberger Building on the main campus of the university in Tucson at around 2 p.m.
Dervish, 46, was not currently enrolled at the university and was set to be legally barred from campus for unknown reasons, University of Arizona Police Department Sergeant Sean Shields told the Post on Thursday.
Police said officers were called to escort the suspect out of the building after several shots were fired. Mexner was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Shields explained, “He was being issued an exclusion order … it wasn’t done then, but it was supposed to happen in a couple of days.”
“Our exclusion orders are basically, if you know, a university official tells someone to exclude we can kick them out of a certain building. Or if that’s the case, someone uses the university for unintentional purposes. If they are sleeping or if they are looking at things on the websites of the main library, they should not be looking,” he said.
“Then if they come on the exclusion order list and then if we come in contact with them they can be arrested for trespassing.”
Police said the murder suspect was tracked by state police later that evening in Gila Bend, Arizona, more than 100 miles away. According to Shields and public records, he was brought back to Tucson by university police Thursday morning and held in Pima County Jail without bond.
Dervish had previously been known to university police, and officers were in the process of pulling a report on his case, Shields said, without elaborating.
The shocking violence left the campus under lockdown as students and teachers mourned the loss of the respected teacher.
“We have lost a dear member of our University of Arizona,” said University of Arizona President Robert C. robbins said in a statement,
“This incident is a profound shock to our community, and it is a tragedy. I have no words that can undo this, but I am saddened for the loss to you, and I am especially sad for Tom’s family members, colleagues and students.
Mexner received his PhD at the university in 1999 and was an expert in hydrology, atmospheric chemistry and the effects of climate change on water resources. According to College.
The university said that classes had resumed on Thursday and counseling services were being provided to the students.