PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Two students were killed and nine others were wounded Saturday when a gunman, who remains at large, opened fire inside an academic building.
The shooting took place around 4 p.m. at the Barus and Holley engineering building in an economics class where students were taking a final exam, NPR reports. The deceased victims have been identified as students Ella Cook, 19, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov. Cook, a sophomore, served as vice president of Brown’s college Republican club. Umurzokov, a freshman, graduated from Midlothian High School in Virginia.
Brown University President Christina Paxson said seven of the victims were in critical but stable condition on Sunday while one remained in critical condition. The critical victim has been identified as student Kendall Turner, a graduate of Durham Academy in North Carolina. The ninth injured victim was treated at the hospital and discharged.
Officials released a video of a person of interest walking away from the scene of the shooting, but the video did not show the person’s face. The suspect, who was seen leaving the building on foot, appeared to be in his 30s and was dressed in all black, according to Providence Police.
Brown University Shooting Suspect Detained, Released
Authorities arrested a person of interest, a 24-year-old man from Wisconsin, on Sunday at a Hampton Inn in Coventry, R.I., about 20 miles from the Providence campus. However, the suspect was later released after new evidence moved the case “in a different direction,” according to Attorney General Peter Neronha.
“I’ve been around long enough to know that sometimes you head in one direction and then you have to regroup and go in another and that’s exactly what has happened over the last 24 hours or so,” Neronha said during a news conference late Sunday. “We have a murderer out there.”
A law enforcement official told the Associated Press that the shooter was armed with a handgun and fired more than 40 rounds.
The school issued a shelter-in-place order, which was lifted just before 6 a.m. Sunday morning. Brown wrote in a statement Sunday night that local police “have advised they do not believe there is any immediate threat to Brown or the local community.” Still, many local businesses announced they would remain closed Sunday.
Brown canceled all remaining classes, exams, papers, and projects for the rest of the semester so the university could “focus our efforts on providing care and support to the members of our community as we grapple with the sorrow, fear and anxiety that is impacting all of us right now,” said Provost Francis Doyle.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said there would be increased police presence both on campus and throughout the city.
Reporter Questions Lack of Security Cameras at Brown University
During Sunday’s news conference, one reporter asked why there weren’t enough cameras at the Ivy league school to catch the gunman still at large, Fox reports.
“There just weren’t a lot of cameras in that Brown building, is the reality,” Neronha said. “The reality is it’s an old building attached to a new one. I don’t know what to tell you, but we’re going to go out and find whatever evidence we can to solve this case as quickly as we can. I mean, we’re not holding back a video that we think would be useful. And I don’t think I should even have to say it.”
Providence Police are asking anyone with video or photo evidence to call 401-272-3121 or submit it to the FBI tip line. Anyone who lives near Hope and Waterman streets, or has a business in that area, is asked to check their home videos and security cameras for video that may be relevant to the investigation.
2 Brown University Students Survived Previous School Shootings
For two Brown University students, Saturday’s shooting was not their first, NBC reports. Mia Tretta, 21, was shot in the 2019 mass shooting at Saugus High School in California. Two students, Gracie Muehlberger, 15, and Dominic Blackwell, 14, were killed in the attack. Muehlberger was Tretta’s best friend.
Zoe Weissman, 20, attended Westglades Middle School, which is adjacent to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, when 17 people were killed in a 2018 shooting.
Tretta said she chose Brown because she believed its smaller size, approximately 7,000 undergraduate students, would be more safe.
“No one in this country even assumes it’s going to happen to them,” she said. “Once it happens to you, you assume or are told it will never happen again, and obviously that is not the case.”
Weissman said she was in her dorm when a friend called to tell her a shooting was likely underway.
“At first, I was panicked. Once I knew a little more and I didn’t feel there was imminent danger, I felt numb — exactly how I did when I was 12,” she said during a phone interview with NBC. “I’m angry that I thought I’d never have to deal with this again, and here I am eight years later.”
We will continue to provide updates as they are made available.
