What we covered here
• As the Brown University mass shooter remains at large, Providence Police Chief Oscar L. Perez Jr. asked for the public’s help identifying a person shown in a photo released earlier who crossed paths with the person of interest.
• Authorities also released a map showing the streets where the person of interest was present in the hours before Saturday’s attack.
• An early focus on a different person of interest, now cleared in the probe, may have delayed the investigation by up to a day. And limited school security camera footage around the building at the edge of campus, where the attack unfolded, has spurred questions, including from the White House.
• The shooting left two students dead and nine injured at the Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island, where classes and exams were canceled.
Our live coverage of the Brown University shooting investigation has moved. Follow today’s updates.
With no arrest in Brown shooting, police turn to community for crucial evidence
As the search for the Brown University gunman stretches into another day without an arrest, investigators say community cooperation is key to solving the case.
“It is a very intense investigation, and I think it’s going to take public assistance,” Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez said at a Wednesday news conference.
“It’s going to take 21st century policing involving technology, but it’s also going to take good old fashioned police work, which is knocking on doors, going through yards,” Perez said.
That appeal to the public now includes reviewing security cameras footage from before the shooting, as detectives believe the suspect may have been in the area earlier than initially thought.
Suspects often scout locations in advance, Perez said, emphazising the importance of reviewing video footage. “They do case the areas. They do a lot of prior checking for their crime,” he said. “We truly believe that possibly he was there prior as well. And so we want to make sure that we don’t miss anything.”
Police have previously asked for the public’s help in identifying the person of interest seen in newly released videos. They have also urged residents, including those with camera‑equipped vehicles like Teslas, to share any additional footage dating back “at least a week.”
Former FBI official who led Boston Marathon bombing task force speaks on Brown University shooting investigation
A former FBI official who led the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing task force praised officials in Providence, Rhode Island, for their work handling the investigation of the Brown University shooting.
“You can clearly see team law enforcement absolutely unified,” former FBI assistant director, Kieran Ramsey, told CNN affiliate WCVB Wednesday.
New England has weathered mass‑casualty events before – from the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing to the 2023 Lewiston shootings – and those experiences are shaping today’s response, Ramsey said.
He pointed to the broad sweep of evidence collection, public engagement and the advanced tools now available to investigators.
“Anybody else that claims it’s not fast enough, it’s not good enough, it’s not this, it’s not that. Look, we have to give team law enforcement the benefit of the doubt here,” he added. “And they’re doing everything they can, and no doubt they are availing themselves of every resource possible, and now that does include enlisting the public’s help.”
Ramsey said the FBI, in the years since the Boston Marathon bombing, has increasingly shared investigative techniques in an effort to reassure communities in moments of crisis.
Officials are urging for the public’s help in identifying the person of interest in the Brown University shooting and has asked anyone with information, video or eyewitness accounts to contact law enforcement.
