Brown University Shooting: Everything We Know
A shooting at Brown University on Saturday left at least two students dead and nine others injured. On Sunday, a person of interest was taken into custody in connection with the shooting.
According to multiple reports — including from The Washington Post, NBC News, and CNN — multiple sources briefed on the investigation have identified the person of interest as a 24-year-old man from Wisconsin. Federal agents detained the person of interest at a hotel in nearby Coventry, Rhode Island, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement on X on Sunday morning. He added that the bureau used its Cellular Analysis Survey Team for its geolocation capabilities to locate the person of interest and that it was deploying resources to reconstruct the scene. As of early Sunday evening, the person of interest has not been charged and has not been named as a suspect in the shooting. No potential motive has been provided.
The shooting on Saturday began at the prestigious Providence, Rhode Island university at around 4 p.m., inside a classroom in the university’s Barus and Holley engineering and physics building. It took place during one of the busiest times as the school is in the midst of final exams. On Saturday evening, Providence police released video footage of a person of interest, which showed a person dressed in black, walking around a corner from the scene. The incident set off a shelter-in-place order, which kept students and faculty locked down on campus overnight, until Sunday morning following the detainment of a person of interest. In the wake of the tragedy, classes and exams were canceled.
A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that the gunman fired more than 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun, and that two handguns were recovered when the person of interest was taken into custody.
As of early Sunday evening, one of the nine wounded students has been released from the hospital, University President Christina Paxson said during a news conference. Six others are in critical but stable condition, one is in critical condition, and one is in stable condition, a hospital spokesperson told The Washington Post. Officials involved in the investigation have not yet released the names of the victims. Durham Academy, a private K-12 school in Durham, North Carolina, confirmed that a recent graduate, Kendall Turner, was critically wounded. “Our school community is rallying around Kendall, her classmates, and her loved ones, and we will continue to offer our full support in the days ahead,” the school said, via AP.
On Sunday night, members of the community gathered for a candlelight vigil at Lippitt Memorial Park to honor the victims of Saturday’s mass shooting. The event was supposed to be a holiday celebration featuring a Christmas tree and menorah lighting, that instead served as a place to grieve and show support for one another in the wake of the tragedy.
“For those who know at least bit of the Hanukkah story, it is quite clear that if we can come together as a community to shine a little bit of light tonight, there’s nothing better that we can be doing,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said speaking of the evening’s planned gathering at a news conference earlier in the day.
This is a developing story…
