Two people have been killed and several more critically injured in a shooting at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island. Here’s what we know so far:
A person in their 20s was taken into custody on Sunday morning, but then released later in the day. 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. The person was later released without charge as the authorities said the evidence took the investigation in “a different direction”.
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.
The two slain have been identified by loved ones as Ella Cook, a second-year Brown student from Alabama, and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an Uzbek national in his first year of studies at the Ivy League institution. Cook was vice-president of Brown’s chapter of College Republicans of America, and Umurzokov had dreams of becoming a neurosurgeon, those who knew them have said.
The university announced that all remaining classes, exams, papers and projects were cancelled for the rest of the semester.
Officials refused to say whether a gun used in the attack had been found. A small Glock handgun with a laser sight attached and a revolver were found in a hotel room where the person of interest was apprehended, federal law enforcement sources have told CNN.
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.
