A small Glock handgun with a laser sight attached and a revolver were found in a hotel room at the Hampton Inn in Coventry, Rhode Island, federal law enforcement sources have told CNN.
CNN also reports the person of interest detained is male. Officers reportedly banged on the door and told him to open up.
Law enforcement often uses the term “person of interest” to refer to someone whom they consider important to a criminal investigation – but whom there is not enough evidence to consider a suspect and accuse of having committed the underlying offense.
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We have more pictures coming from Brown University where the community is dealing with the aftermath of a shooting that has left two people dead and eight people still in hospital.
Rhode Island governor Dan McKee has written a public letter to his constituents following the shooting at Brown University.
In the letter he thanked emergency responders for their speed in dealing with the shooting and working hard to keep the community safe.
“Right now, our community is in pain,” McKee wrote in the letter. “Every year, emergency responders and students drill for the unthinkable – a shooting at our schools. Yesterday, that action became all too real when a gunman opened fire on a classroom of innocent Brown University students.”
As reported by the Providence Journal, McKee added: “I am not just the governor. I am a Rhode Islander. I am a parent and a grandparent. I cannot fathom the depth of fear, and in some cases, grief the families of those students are experiencing today.”
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More politicians are reacting to the shooting at Brown University yesterday, sending tributes to victims and their families while calling for urgent action to end gun violence.
California senator Adam Schiff posted on X, saying:
I’m praying for all of the victims, their families, and the entire Brown University community as it grieves this horrific act of gun violence. How many more tragedies, more lives lost, more grieving families, before we act? We can and we must end our gun violence epidemic.”
Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted:
On this solemn anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, we remember the 26 beautiful souls taken in an act of unimaginable violence. Yesterday’s shooting at Brown University is a painful reminder that this grief is not confined to history. Thirteen years later, communities are still being torn apart by gun violence—and the weight of that loss continues to demand action. We must not stop fighting until the job is done.
California senator Alex Padilla wrote:
Angela and I are horrified by last night’s shooting at Brown University that left two students dead, nine injured, and hundreds more traumatized. We pray for the victims, their families, and the entire Brown community. Gun violence in America must come to an end. I refuse to give into the notion that there’s nothing more we can do to try to prevent these tragedies.
Teaching assistant Joseph Oduro, 21, told CNN he was in a classroom that was attacked.
“The first couple of gunshots went straight to the chalkboard right where I was standing,” Oduro said. “Who knows, if I didn’t duck, maybe I’m not here today.“
A student next to him took two bullets to the leg and was due to undergo surgery on Sunday, he said.
Melania Trump sends 'thoughts and prayers' to victims' families
First lady Melania Trump spoke after the US president at a White House holiday event to pay tribute to the people killed in attacks in Providence, Rhode Island, and Bondi Beach, Sydney.
Melania said: “My thoughts and prayers go to the families of, the people who lost the loved ones around the world in this, difficult time.”
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'Things can happen', Trump says of mass shooting at Brown
The White House has shared video on social media of Donald Trump’s remarks on the mass shooting at Brown at a holiday reception at the White House on Sunday.
“Before we begin, I want to just pay my respects to the people, unfortunately two are no longer with us, Brown University, nine injured and two are looking down on us right now from Heaven,” the president said.
“Likewise, in Australia, as you know, that was a terrible attack: 11 dead, 29 wounded, and that was an antisemitic attack, obviously,” Trump said.
The president also mentioned the deadly attack on three Americans serving in Syria on Saturday. “In Syria, also, we had an attack in Syria, and we had three great patriots terminated by bad people, and not the Syrian government, it was Isis,” Trump said.
“Brown University,” Trump added, “great school, really one of the greatest schools anywhere in the world. Things can happen,” the president said.
“So to the nine injured: get well fast. And to the families of those two that are no longer with us: I pay my deepest regards and respects, from the United States of America. Thank you very much. It’s a very important thing to say, and we mean it.”
Trump also said that in Syria “there will be big damage done” to those responsible for the attack on US service members.
The president also praised the man who tackled one of the attackers in Australia.
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Summary of the day so far
Politicians and law enforcement officials held a press conference in Providence, Rhode Island, a day after a shooter killed two people and injured several others at Brown University.
Here is what we know about the attack after the latest update:
A person in their 20s was taken into custody on Sunday morning. Police chief Col Oscar Perez declined to say whether the person of interest was the same person seen in surveillance footage released by authorities on Saturday. Officials did not name the person.
A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded nine others at Brown University during final exams on the Ivy League campus.
Brown University president Christina Paxson confirmed that the two people killed were students. A shelter-in-place in effect for the area was lifted on Sunday morning.
Eight people with gunshot wounds were taken to Rhode Island hospital, where seven were in critical but stable condition, Paxson said on Sunday. One person remains in a critical condition, she added. One other student was discharged from hospital on Saturday night and left with their parents, Paxson said.
Providence’s mayor Brett Smiley said he had visited the victims of the attack in hospital, praising their resilience and the efforts of emergency medical staff who treated them.
Smiley declined to name any of the shooting victims, saying authorities had not yet been able to contact all the relatives.
Officials refused to say whether a gun used in the attack had been found. Earlier reports on CNN said the person of interest had two firearms with them. The Associated press reported officials said two loaded 30-round magazines had been found. Officials did not comment on any speculation.
Law enforcement agencies were seen at a Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island, roping off rooms as part of the investigation into the shooting. An FBI agent said the person of interest had been arrested at the hotel, which is a short drive from Brown University.
The FBI used cellphone data to locate the person of interest, the agency’s director Kash Patel said.
Donald Trump paid tribute to the victims in the attack. Speaking at the White House, the US president said: “I want to just pay my respects to the people, unfortunately two are no longer with us, Brown University, nine injured and two are looking down on us right now from Heaven.” The president added: “So to the nine injured: get well fast. And to the families of those two that are no longer with us: I pay my deepest regards and respects, from the United States of America. Thank you very much. It’s a very important thing to say, and we mean it.”
The shooting occurred in the Barus and Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department. According to the university’s website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices. Brown, one of the America’s most prestigious colleges, has roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students.
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Earlier on Sunday, Georgia senator Raphael Warnock urged people to find “common humanity” after a deadly shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press with Kristen Welker, Warnock said: “I can tell you that as a pastor who has presided over many funerals, I don’t think that there’s any pain deeper than when nature is violently reversed and rather than children burying their parents, the parent has to bury the child. And so we pray prayers for these families.”
Warnock, who pushed Congress to pass more gun control legislation after two students and two teachers at a high school in his home state of Georgia were shot to death in 2024, went on to call for action after yet another mass shooting at an education facility in America.
He told NBC: “We have to pray not only with our lips, but with our action. Any nation that tolerates this kind of violence year after year, decade after decade in random places on our college and school campuses without doing all that we can to stop it is broken and in need of moral repair.”
Police chief declines to say if person of interest was connected to university
During the press conference, Providence police chief Col Oscar Perez declined to say if the person of interest had any connection to Brown University.
“I’m not ready to confirm or comment on any of that,” Perez told reporters. “Again, I got to respect the process, and so at this point, we’re just going to continue, like the mayor stated. It’s complex, but we want to make sure that we have a successful prosecution.”
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Providence police chief Col Oscar Perez said at this moment an eventual case against a shooting suspect is being treated as a state prosecution, rather than a federal one.
Person in custody is in his 20s, officials say
Providence police chief Col Oscar Perez has said the person of interest in custody is in his 20s, not in his 30s as officials stated earlier on Sunday.
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Police refused to comment on a social media post by FBI director Kash Patel that claimed the arrest of a person of interest was based on a lead from Providence police.
Writing on X, Patel said the FBI “established a command post to intake, develop and analyze leads, and run them to ground. We activated the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team, to provide critical geolocation capabilities.
“As a result, early this morning, FBI Boston’s Safe Streets Task Force, with assistance from the @USMarshalsHQ & the @Coventry_RI_PD, detained a person of interest in a hotel room in Coventry, RI, based off a lead by the @ProvidenceRIPD.
“We have deployed local and national resources to process and reconstruct the shooting scene - providing HQ and Lab elements on scene. We set up a digital media intake portal to ingest images and video from the public related to this incident.
“And the FBI’s victim specialists are fully integrating with our partners to provide resources to victims and survivors of this horrific violence. This FBI will continue an all out 24/7 campaign until justice is fully served. Thanks to the men and women of the FBI and our partners for their continued teamwork. Please continue praying for the victims and their families - as well as all those at Brown University.
Mayor Brett Smiley says he won’t share names of the victims yet as he believes some of their families have not yet been contacted because they might be travelling for the holidays.
He adds that bringing the person responsible for the shooting to justice is the top priority for officials. He reiterates the reason he’s not sharing unconfirmed information so as to not compromise any future prosecution.
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Col Oscar Perez refused to say whether the person in custody is the same person as the one seen in surveillance footage released on Saturday night.
Perez declined to comment on whether officials had found the gun used in the attack.
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Col Oscar Perez was asked whether officials had been able to establish any connection between the suspects and the university or find out why the suspect targeted the university.
Perez said: “So that’s all part of the investigation that we’re conducting. And again, it’s, it’s complex.”
Providence police chief declines to name any suspect
Police chief Col Oscar Perez addresses reporters and says he is aware of speculation around a suspect’s name. He says he is not ready to provide a name or names.
He told reporters the “investigation continues to progress extremely fast” He added: We’re in the process of collecting evidence and seizing items that we need to seize such location that we need to search.”
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Mayor Smiley went on to say he visited victims of the attack and their families in hospital on Sunday.
He thanked the medical staff at Brown Health and Rhode Island Hospital, saying: “These folks, just like our law enforcement professionals, have been up all night working. But the level of care and professionalism that they’re exhibiting is extraordinary.
“These survivors received an excellent care. And the resilience that these survivors showed and shared with me is, frankly, pretty overwhelming. It pales in comparison what they’ve gone through for the rest of us here. We’re all saddened and scared and tired.
“But what they’ve been through something entirely different. And yet they showed courage and hope and gratitude for how this community has stood up for them, and how the health care providers care for them.”
Mayor Brett Smiley says the community would now turn “our attention to caring for our neighbors”.
He pointed to a website set up by the city of Providence where the community find resources for mental health care.
He said a vigil would be held at 5pm ET at Olympic Park, where there had been plans to light a Christmas tree and to light a menorah for the first night of Hanukkah.
He said: “And for those who know at least a little bit of a Hanukkah story, it is quite clear that if we can come together as a community and shine a little bit of light, if there’s nothing better that we could be doing this community.”
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Providence mayor Brett Smiley begins the press conference. He starts by praising the level of collaboration between law enforcement agencies.
He says there is no update to share on the investigation, that the investigation is ongoing and that officials are cooperating with law enforcement agencies.
He said he would not share any information that could jeopardize the investigation or compromise any future charges.
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The person in custody after the Brown University shooting had two firearms with them when they were detained, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told CNN.
The exact type of firearms remains unclear.
Key event
Officials are expected to hold a press conference at 12pm ET. We will bring you the latest from that update as we get it.
Students in a nearby lab turned off the lights and hid under desks after receiving an alert, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering who was about from where the shooting occurred.
Mari Camara, 20, a junior from New York City, was coming out of the library and rushed inside a taqueria to seek shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting friends while police searched the campus.
“Everyone is the same as me, shocked and terrified that something like this happened,” she told AP.
Brown, the seventh-oldest higher education institution in the US, is one of the nation’s most prestigious colleges with roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students.
Students describe experiences of Brown University shooting
Eva Erickson, a doctoral candidate who was the runner-up earlier this year on the CBS reality competition show Survivor, said she left her lab in the engineering building 15 minutes before shots rang out.
The engineering and thermal science student said she was locked down in the campus gym following the shooting and shared on social media that the only other member of her lab who was present was safely evacuated.
Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside.
“I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as armed officers surrounded his dorm.
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Rhode Island senator says attack 'shook the entire state'
The Democratic senator for Rhode Island, Jack Reed, has been on Fox News this morning, describing how the attack “shook the entire state”.
Reed hailed law enforcement agencies for detaining a person of interest within 12 hours of the attack that killed two people. He said: “But it still doesn’t diminish the real horror and the pain that this caused to everyone in this state.”
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Senator Chris Murphy criticized the Trump administration for failing to protect Americans from gun crime, accusing the US president of being engaged “in a dizzying campaign to increase violence in this country”.
Since coming back into office, Donald Trump has dismantled the White House office of gun violence prevention, and directed Pam Bondi, the attorney general, to review federal gun laws to weed out any “ongoing infringements” of the second amendment.
In March, his administration removed an advisory from Vivek Murthy, the former surgeon general, on gun violence as a public health issue from the US Department of Health and Human Services website. The next month, the justice department cut more than $800m in grants, including community-based violence intervention programs, that were managed by the justice department’s office of justice programs (OJP). While big asks from gun rights organizations have gone unanswered, behind the scenes, Trump’s Department of Justice has also proven to be largely gun-friendly.
In April, the justice department nixed a Biden-era “zero-tolerance” policy for gun dealers who willfully failed to follow federal guidelines.
In May, the department reversed a years-long precedent that prohibited the sale of devices called forced reset triggers that can be affixed to rifles and allowed to fire rapidly. Before the DoJ’s recent intervention, the items were classified as machine guns.
Speaking to CNN, Murphy said: “He’s knowingly restoring gun rights to dangerous people. He is cutting off grants that have bipartisan support to try to interrupt violence in our cities or to try to get necessary mental health resources to families and children in need.
“The evidence tells you that, when you stop funding mental health, when you stop funding community anti-gun violence programs, when you give gun rights back to dangerous people, you are going to have an increase in violence. That is knowable and that is foreseeable.”
The deadly attack in Providence came on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting that left 26 people dead.
Democratic Connecticut senator Chris Murphy – who was elected just weeks before that horrific attack – told CNN he was mourning for the people killed at Brown University and expressed his hope that those who were wounded would recover from their injuries.
Speaking on the anniversary of Sandy Hook, Murphy said the parents of the victims would “relive the horror of that day”, adding that “a community never, ever recovers from a shooting like this. And the trauma and the cost is not just in the lives lost.”
Condemning the frequency of mass shootings in the United States, Murphy also said:
Those kids who are returning to campus are going to be looking over their shoulder, wondering whether they are going to survive their next day in class, as kids all across America do every single day that they show up in their classroom, wondering whether they someday are going to have to flee for their lives.
We think maybe at least two of the kids at this shooting had already survived a previous shooting when they were in elementary and secondary school. That is just not a reality that we should accept in this nation for our kids.
Officials have not yet found the gun
Armed with a handgun, the shooter fired more than 40 9 mm rounds, according to a law enforcement official.
Authorities as of Sunday morning had not recovered a gun but did find two loaded 30-round magazines, thr official told AP, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.
Person of interest was detained at a hotel near Providence, FBI says
The FBI has now said the person of interested was taken into custody at a Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry, about 20 miles (32km) from Providence.
Officers remained on the scene there, with police tape blocking off a hallway, the Associated Press reports.
An image from the hotel show officers cordoning off a hallway:
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Seven students in critical but stable condition; one student in critical condition
Brown University president Christina Paxson gave an update on the condition of the students injured in the attack.
She said seven of the students remained in critical but stable condition. One student remains in critical condition. She added: “Our prayers continue to be with them and their families.”
One student was discharged from the hospital last night and left with their parents. She added: “And of course, we continue to support the families of the two students who died. There are not enough words of comfort for families who lose a child, but we will do all we can.”
Paxson also announced there would be support offices set up across campus for those affected by the shooting.
She said: “We know that the stress of this situation will live with our community for hours and days and weeks to come. We will find ways to be in community with each other.”
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Brown University’s president paid tribute to students who opened their homes to fellow students who were evacuated from locked down areas of the campus overnight.
Christina Paxson said any students who were taken to an evacuation site have been relocated and have received food and a place to sleep. She said: “I am deeply moved by all the students who opened their homes and their arms to welcome friends into their dorms and other residences while we transported others to local hotels.”
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Brown University students were told that all remaining classes and exams for the semester would be delayed after the shooting that killed two people and left several others injured.
In a note to students, the university’s provost, Francis J Doyle III, said the decision was made “out of our profound concern for all students, faculty and staff on our campus”. He encouraged students and staff to focus on their safety and wellbeing.
Doyle wrote:
In the immediate aftermath of these devastating events, we recognize that learning and assessment are significantly hindered in the short term and that many students and others will wish to depart campus. Students are free to leave if they are able. Students who remain will have access to on-campus services and support.
At this time, it is essential that we 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. University leaders are committed to providing care and mobilizing resources to assist our community members through this difficult time.
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A student who was shot in the leg in his classroom on Saturday told reporters how he helped another students who was seriously injured.
Spencer Yang, 18, told the New York Times he and the student were hiding behind seats. Speaking from the hospital where he was being treated, Yang told the NYT: “To keep him conscious, I just started talking to him, so he didn’t close his eyes and fall asleep.”
Police seen at hotel near Brown University reportedly linked to arrest
Images on the news wires show the hotel where FBI agents and other law enforcement personnel descended early on Sunday.
The Hampton Inn in Coventry, Rhode Island, is about a 20-minute drive from Brown University. It is reportedly where a person of interest was taken into custody.
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Video footage on CNN showed a heavy police presence at a Providence area hotel before news this morning that a person of interest had been taken into custody.
The footage purports to show a number of officers entering a hotel room near the city’s airport early on Sunday morning. Officials refused to give any further information to reporters witnessing the moment.
The Associated Press has more on the investigation:
Armed with a handgun, the shooter fired more than 40 9mm rounds, according to a law enforcement official. Authorities had not found a gun as of Sunday morning but recovered two loaded 30-round magazines, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.
Providence leaders warned that residents will notice a heavier police presence on Sunday.
“Everybody’s reeling, and we have a lot of recovery ahead of us,” Brown University’s president Christina Paxson told a news conference. “Our community’s strong and we’ll get through it, but it’s devastating.”
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Seven people who were injured in the Saturday shooting are in a stable condition, with one of them in a critical but stable condition, Providence mayor Brett Smiley told reporters on Sunday.
The New York Times quotes Rhode Island governor Dan McKee, who told reporters: “My thoughts are still centered on those individuals who lost their lives.”
Shelter in place order lifted
A shelter in place order for Brown University was lifted early on Sunday morning.
The university released an update on its website saying police activity was continuing in the area and that it was still an active crime scene.
The update said: “Within the police perimeter, including Minden Hall and nearby apartment buildings, community members who leave those buildings will be unable to return.”
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Here’s a recap of what we know about the attack so far:
A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded nine others at Brown University during final exams on the Ivy League campus.
Brown University president Christina Paxson confirmed that the two people killed were students. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said a shelter-in-place was in effect for the area and encouraged people living near the campus to stay inside and not to return home until it was lifted.
Eight people with gunshot wounds were taken to Rhode Island hospital, where six were in critical but stable condition, according to Kelly Brennan, a spokesperson for the hospital. A ninth person was later found to have been injured, but was reportedly not in a critical situation.
University officials initially told students and staff that a suspect was in custody, before later saying that was not the case and that police were still searching for a suspect or suspects. The mayor said a person preliminarily thought to be involved was detained but was later determined to have no involvement.
President Donald Trump told reporters that he had been briefed on the shooting and “all we can do right now is pray for the victims.” Earlier he claimed a suspect was in custody before rowing back on that statement and confirming the shooter was still at large.
The shooting occurred in the Barus + Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department. According to the university’s website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices. Brown, one of the America’s most prestigious colleges, has roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students.
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Surveillance video released by police showed a suspect, dressed in black, calmly walking away from the scene. His face was not visible and investigators said it wasn’t clear whether the suspect is a student.
The suspect was last seen leaving the engineering building and some witnesses told police the suspect may have been wearing a camouflage mask, Providence Police Deputy Chief Timothy O’Hara said.
Earlier, Paxson said she was told 10 people who were shot were students. Another person was injured by fragments from the shooting but it was not clear if the victim was a student, she said.
The search for the shooter paralyzed the campus , the nearby neighborhoods filled with stately brick homes and the downtown in Rhode Island’s capital city. Streets normally bustling with activity on weekends were eerily quiet.
Students sheltered in place for hours into the night. Officers in tactical gear led students out of some campus buildings and into a fitness center where they waited. Others arrived at the shelter on buses without jackets or any belongings.
Person of interest detained after Brown University shooting
Police in Rhode Island said early Sunday that they had a person of interest in custody after a shooting that rocked the Brown University campus during final exams, leaving two people dead and nine others wounded.
Col Oscar Perez, chief of the Providence police, confirmed at a news conference that the detained person was in their 30s. Perez did not say where they were arrested or whether theywere connected to the university.
The shooting erupted in the engineering building of the Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island, during final exams. Hundreds of police officers had scoured the Brown University campus along with nearby neighborhoods and pored over video in pursuit of a shooter who opened fire in a classroom.
Providence leaders warned that residents will notice a heavier police presence on Sunday. Many local businesses announced they would remain closed and expressed shock and heartbreak as the community continued to process the news of the shooting.
“Everybody’s reeling, and we have a lot of recovery ahead of us,” said Brown University President Christina Paxson said at the news conference.
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