Emily Navarro Mendoza oral history interview, 2024 August 05

Oral history interview with Emily Navarro Medoza conducted by Claytee D. White on August 5, 2024 for the UNLV Remembers: an Oral History of the 6 December 2023 Shootings project. In this interview, Mendoza, a freshman at UNLV, recalls working a pre-final exam event in Pida Plaza that began at 11:00 on December 6, 2023. As the first popping sound was heard, students began running out of Beam Hall into the open plaza area where her event was in progress. Mendoza witnessed the arrival of police cars, and when she heard, "shooter," she ran to the microphone and announced, "active shooter" before she began to run with her colleagues. A large group of students ran between the Student Union and FDH, across the parking lot, onto Maryland Parkway where all cars stopped, and they assembled at the business area near the Chipotle Restaurant. Mendoza and about nine others ran toward Eastern and ended up at the Medical Center on the corner of Harmon and Eastern where they were given shelter and snacks. Her sister picked her up after maneuvering around all the street closures.The next morning, Mendoza recalls the Rebel Events staff greeting each other in Pida Plaza with hugs, securing their belongings, and cleaning up the plaza. They were heartbroken but could not allow the disrespect of their event, their campus, to be left in such chaos. They felt fearful being in the area, yet, they decided to finish this event as they always do: by leaving the space better than they had found it. Digital audio and transcript available.