A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded eight others at Brown University on Sunday during final exams, authorities said, and police were searching for the suspect.
Officers fanned out across campus and into a nearby affluent neighborhood, checking academic buildings, backyards and porches for hours after the attack began. Deputy Chief of Police Timothy O’Hara said the suspect was a male in dark clothing last seen leaving the engineering building where the shooting occurred. A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, said authorities believe a handgun was used.
Rhode Island has some of the nation’s strictest gun laws. Last spring, the Democratic-controlled legislature passed an assault weapons ban that will bar the sale and manufacture of certain high-powered firearms starting next July, though it will not prohibit possession. “The unthinkable has happened,” Democratic Gov. Dan McKee said.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley ordered a shelter-in-place and urged residents near the campus to remain indoors until it was lifted. “We have all available resources” to find the suspect, he said. The FBI said it was assisting in the response.
Students and eyewitnesses described chaotic scenes. Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the engineering building lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops from the east side, realized they were gunshots and ran to a nearby building, where she waited for hours. Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral engineering student about a block away, said people in a nearby lab hid under desks and turned off the lights after receiving an alert.
Eight people with gunshot wounds were taken to Rhode Island Hospital. Kelly Brennan, a hospital spokesperson, said six were in critical but stable condition, one was in critical condition and one was stable.
University officials initially told students and staff a suspect was in custody, then clarified that was not the case. The mayor said a person preliminarily thought to be involved was detained but later determined to have no involvement. Nearly five hours after the shooting, officers in tactical gear led students out of some campus buildings and into a fitness center.
The shooting occurred in the Barus and Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses Brown’s School of Engineering and the physics department. The building contains more than 100 laboratories along with classrooms and offices, and engineering design exams were under way at the time.
Brown senior Alex Bruce, a biochemistry student in a dorm across the street from the building, said he heard sirens and received an active-shooter alert shortly after 4 p.m. “I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching armed officers surround his dorm and fearing for a friend he thought was inside the engineering building. Mari Camara, a junior from New York City, said she took shelter in a taqueria for more than three hours while police searched the campus. “Everyone is the same as me, shocked and terrified that something like this happened,” she said.
President Donald Trump said he had been briefed and that “all we can do right now is pray for the victims,” calling the incident “a shame.” Brown, the seventh-oldest higher education institution in the U.S., enrolls roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students. Tuition, housing and fees can approach nearly $100,000 per year, according to the university.
