Arianna Villanueva oral history interview, 2024 September 13

Oral history interview with Arianna Villanueva conducted by Claytee D. White and Stefani Evans on September 13, 2024 for the UNLV Remembers: an Oral History of the 6 December 2023 Shootings project. In this interview, Secondary Education/Social Studies major Arianna Villanueva recalls the events of the day. She and her fellow Seminar II students had set up their posters for their final presentations to begin at 11:30 in the Student Union Ballroom. About 30 minutes after the poster session began, people began grouping together and whispering; they saw police outside the building, and she started receiving texts from a friend group who all happened to be off campus. They heard shots, and were told to they were going into lockdown and to gather at the back wall, but no one knew how to react in this unfamiliar setting. Students were crying; her mother called from San Diego, said the gunshots were probably police but she didn't actually know. After they heard more gunshots, they ran to the corner farthest from the entry doors. Her friend held her hand and told her to push toward the middle, to not look back, and to focus on getting out to tell the story. Suddenly, the door was kicked open; everyone screamed and hit the ground; the teacher grabbed Villanueva's arm. She recalls the officers made a tunnel down the interior staircase of the Student Union to the front (Maryland Parkway) entrance; and she heard walkie-talkies saying "bodies down." As she was descending the stairs, she started video recording on her phone. An officer told them to go as far as they could and gestured east. They didn't know where to go, so they continued as far as Dorothy Avenue and Villanueva She realized she left her backpack with her wallet, laptop, and keys in the Student Union. She walked to the Southwest Medical Center on Eastern Avenue at Harmon, where she and her friend met their rides home. Villanueva did not return to campus until the following week to get her belongings, meeting officers at the campus bus station. She saw all the abandoned items and food; "clear" written on the doors, and posters in the ballroom. She, her friend, and her cousin attended the vigil to show respect to the professors who died. She was formerly very organized and outgoing, but feels less show since the shooting. Digital audio and transcript available.