Campus Alert Archive
Arizona

'Prepare to Meet Your Maker': A Failing Student's Targeted Attack on Three Nursing Professors

AZactive shooteremergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On October 28, 2002, Robert Stewart Flores Jr., a 41-year-old Gulf War veteran and failing nursing student, entered the University of Arizona College of Nursing building carrying five handguns and over 200 rounds of ammunition. He killed three of his professors: Robin Rogers, 50, on the second floor; and Cheryl McGaffic, 44, and Barbara Monroe, 45, in a fourth-floor classroom during an exam. Flores then dismissed the terrified students and killed himself.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
3
Injured
0
Institution
University of Arizona
Public R1 · AZ
~37,000 students
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTPA System
Approximate reconstruction202 chars
ATTENTION: There has been a shooting at the College of Nursing building. All persons should avoid the area. Campus police are on scene. Stay in your current location and lock doors until further notice.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Flores specifically targeted his professors rather than students, making the attack a targeted workplace-violence event within an educational setting
Arizona does not observe daylight saving time; MST (UTC-7) applies year-round
Approximately 30 students were in the fourth-floor classroom when Flores entered during an exam
ALL CLEARPA System
Approximate reconstruction194 chars
The emergency at the College of Nursing has ended. The shooter has been confirmed deceased. The campus is safe. Counseling and support services are available through the Dean of Students office.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Flores dismissed the students from the classroom before killing himself, a detail that distinguished this shooting from indiscriminate mass casualty events
Flores had brought five handguns and over 200 rounds of ammunition, suggesting he initially planned a more extensive attack
FOLLOW-UPWebsite
Verified verbatimStatement by University of Arizona President Peter Likins, reported verbatim by CBS News and the Arizona Daily Star262 chars
The entire campus community is traumatized. We grieve for those whom we have lost in this tragedy and for their loved ones. Some people have witnessed murders. For them, and for the family and friends of the victims, the days ahead will be unspeakably difficult.
Likins explicitly acknowledged that 'some people have witnessed murders' — an unusually direct presidential statement for the era, before trauma-informed crisis communication had become standard
The statement was distributed via the University of Arizona News Service to local media and the campus website on the afternoon of October 28, 2002
Likins served as UA president from 1997 to 2006; the Flores shooting was the largest campus violence event of his tenure
Context

Background

The 2002 University of Arizona shooting was a targeted attack by a failing nursing student against three of his instructors. Robert Flores had failed pediatric nursing the previous semester and was failing critical care at the time of the attack. On April 19, 2001, more than a year before the shooting, two nursing instructors reported concerns to University Police that Flores was depressed enough to harm someone, and he made comments about placing 'something under the College of Medicine.' Despite these warnings, Flores was not removed from the program. On the morning of October 28, 2002, Flores arrived at the nursing building with five handguns and over 200 rounds of ammunition. He killed instructor Robin Rogers in her second-floor office, then went to a fourth-floor classroom where students were taking an exam. According to witnesses quoted in the Arizona Daily Star, Flores pointed a gun at professor Barbara Monroe and said, 'This may not matter to you. But, it matters to me. Prepare to meet your maker.' He then shot Monroe and McGaffic before dismissing the students and killing himself. A 22-page letter mailed to the Arizona Daily Star before the attack attempted to justify his actions.
Analysis

Key Findings

Faculty reported concerns about Flores to University Police 18 months before the shooting, but he was not removed from the program
Flores brought five handguns and over 200 rounds of ammunition but targeted only his three professors, suggesting a planned, targeted attack rather than indiscriminate violence
No mass notification system was in place at the University of Arizona in 2002; the incident predated text-based alert systems
The pre-attack manifesto mailed to a newspaper followed a pattern seen in other targeted campus shootings
Outcome
Flores died by suicide at the scene. A 22-page letter mailed to the Arizona Daily Star before the shooting described his actions as 'a reckoning.' Previous threat reports from faculty in April 2001 had not resulted in Flores's removal from the program.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Source
    2002 University of Arizona shooting (Wikipedia)
    en.wikipedia.org
  2. News
    Tucson.com: 2002: UA student kills 3 faculty members
    tucson.com
  3. News
    ABC15: Old Time Crime: UofA professors killed in 2002 rampage
    abc15.com
  4. News
    Arizona Daily Sun: Gunman's letter tries to explain university shootings
    azdailysun.com
Tags
active-shooternursing-schooltargeted-attackacademic-failurewarning-signs-missedno-alert-systemsuicide2002historical
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion