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.
What we know about the ongoing search for the Brown University shooter
Authorities are still looking for the person responsible for fatally shooting two people and injuring nine others at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, over the weekend.
They are asking for the public’s help to identify a person of interest as well as a person who may have crossed paths with that person. Police also released a map showing where the person of interest was seen on the day of the shooting.
Here’s what we know about the ongoing investigation.
- Investigators not discouraged: The search for the shooter entered its fifth day, but authorities are not discouraged, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. Law enforcement officials won’t stop searching until they capture the shooting suspect, Providence Police Chief Oscar L. Perez Jr. said.
- Affiliation of person of interest unknown: It is still unknown if the person of interest in the case is affiliated with the university, Perez said.
- Eyewitness accounts of shooter match description of person of interest police are seeking: Eyewitness accounts of the gunman involved in shooting at Brown University match the description of the person of interest police are seeking in connection with the incident, Perez said.
- Students were studying when shooting happened: A study session was happening in the classroom where the shooting happened, Brown University Provost Francis Doyle said. This means students weren’t required to sign in, so it is taking longer than usual for officials to piece together what students were attending, he said.
Student describes hiding from Brown University shooter: “We were all pretty scared”
Arjun Puri was studying for his freshman-year exams on the third floor of Brown’s Barus & Holley building with his friends when a fellow student told them to hide.
He heard people screaming on the floor below him, telling them to run.
The group hid in a classroom in the back corner of the building, he said. “We were there with the lights off and the curtains down for about 45 minutes until the police came,” Puri told CNN affiliate KSDK.
He later found out the shooting took place on the first floor.
“We were all pretty scared at the beginning,” he said. “It’s just a question of “What’s gonna happen? Is the person gonna come up the stairs? Are the police gonna find you first?’”
While they were waiting for authorities, the friends were receiving a slew of text messages from friends and family as they tried to comfort each other. Some called their parents, Puri said, though he didn’t reach parents until an hour or two later.
“As soon as I was able to talk to my mom, I think that probably eased a lot of my parents’ anxieties and obviously they were still worried about us the next couple of days,” Puri said.
He added that he knows it will take time to heal.
In the days after the shooting, students were checking in with others, even those they didn’t know, to make sure people were OK, he said.
“People were giving out their phone numbers and their emails, and I think that everyone was just willing to support each other, and that’s something that makes me proud to be a member of the Brown community to see us coming together like that,” Puri said.
CNN’s Amanda Watts contributed to this report.
Brown accepts 890 early admission applicants as community mourns students killed in mass shooting
Brown University has accepted 890 early applicants as the first members of its 2030 undergraduate class after the announcement was delayed in the wake of the mass shooting on campus on Saturday, the Ivy League school said.
The university’s admissions office had announced earlier today that the decisions would be available this evening after it delayed notifications for 48 hours after the tragedy.
“While Brown continues to mourn the loss of two beloved students and support the healthy recovery of other community members impacted, University leaders said they recognize that admission decisions mark a very important day for the many talented applicants to Brown,” the university said in a statement.
The accepted students come from 46 states and “a broad range of countries” and were chosen from a pool of 5,406 early decision applicants, the university said.
Student describes barricading doors of library next door to shooting
Students on the 12th floor of the science library at Brown University barricaded the doors when gunshots rang out next door at the Barus & Holley building.
Photos sent to CNN from Brown freshman Joseph McGonagle show a large blue couch flipped on its side, pushed against the door. There are also chairs stacked on top of one another.
McGonagle said he was studying math when he saw on an internal university social media app that there was an active shooter at a building nearby. He said he saw people running out of the building from the window.
“That’s when we started barricading up the 12th floor of the science library,” he said. After he and other students finished stacking the furniture, they got the first email from the school about the shooter on campus, McGonagle added.
They weren’t able to leave the library floor for five hours, he said.
CNN’s Brian Todd contributed reporting to this post.
Brown shooting victim was at study session for class he wasn't enrolled in, friend says
One of the students killed in a shooting at Brown University over the weekend was attending a study session for a class he was not enrolled in when a gunman opened fire, his friend said.
Joe McGonagle, a Brown student who was friends with shooting victim MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, said he had brunch with Umurzokov Saturday morning.
He said during brunch Umurzokov went to sit at another table with a different friend who was heading to a review session for an economics class. Finals were coming up and these study sessions were optional for students, Brown University Provost Francis Doyle said at a press conference today.
McGonagle said Umurzokov “just tagged along with them to go to that econ session, even though he wasn’t in the class. He just wanted to, you know, keep them company. I mean that’s something he would do.”
Umurzokov was a pre-med student, McGonagle said.
“He messaged me from inside the lecture hall, roughly an hour before the shooting happened,” McGonagle said. “He messaged me with a picture of the lecture hall and he said, ‘Guys look, I got dragged into the econ session,’ like as a joke.”
CNN’s Brian Todd contributed reporting to this post.
Students were attending voluntary study session when shooting happened, provost said
When a gunman opened fire at the Barus & Holley building on Brown University’s campus, students were preparing for finals, making it difficult to determine exactly who was there, Brown University Provost Francis Doyle said.
A study session was happening in the classroom where the shooting happened, Doyle said. This means that it is taking longer than usual for officials to piece together what students were attending, he said.
“Had it been a final exam, we’d have a roster, we’d have handed it over. We’d know exactly who was in the room because everyone shows up for a final,” he said, when pressed about why it is taking so long for the school to tell investigators what students where there.
Study sessions, however, are optional, the provost said, “so we don’t know exactly what fraction of the overall roster turned out for a voluntary review session.”
Earlier, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said there is no evidence so far that indicates the shooting was targeted at a specific person.
Eyewitness accounts of shooter match description of person of interest police are seeking, chief says
Eyewitness accounts of the gunman involved in shooting at Brown University match the description of the person of interest police are seeking in connection with the incident, Providence Police Chief Oscar L. Perez, Jr. said during a news conference Wednesday.
The chief’s affirmative response came after a reporter asked whether survivors of the shooting, which took place inside a classroom, described the person of interest as the shooter, or whether the physical description of the gunman is similar to the person of interest they are seeking.
“That’s correct, yes, they have,” Perez answered.
Authorities won’t stop searching until they capture shooting suspect, police chief says
Authorities will not stop searching for the suspect in Saturday’s mass shooting at Brown University until they find them, said Providence Police Chief Oscar L. Perez Jr. at a news conference.
The intensive manhunt has continued for five days, and could extend into six days, but an investigation of this nature is “going to take time,” said Perez.
“A person is going to get caught. We’re going to do our jobs and we’re not going to stop until we do… It could be tomorrow, but we’re not stopping until we find them,” the police chief continued.
It’s still unknown if the person of interest is affiliated with Brown University, police chief says
Authorities still do not know if the person of interest is affiliated with Brown University, Providence Police Chief Oscar L. Perez Jr. said.
“Yeah, at this point, it is unknown to us,” Perez said. “It’s unknown to us where this person works. It’s unknown to us if he was an affiliate of Brown. That’s all unknown to us,” Perez said.
Perez directed reporters to the images authorities have released and said they hope to eventually learn more about the person and their background.
Providence police ask for public’s help to identify a person who may have crossed paths with person of interest
Providence Police Chief Oscar L. Perez Jr. Is asking for the public’s help in identifying a person shown in a photo released by authorities earlier today who they say was in the vicinity of a person of interest in the Brown University mass shooting.
“So, we have released this enhanced photo earlier today, and I want to be clear that this is a person that we would like to speak with,” Perez said during a news conference. “We truly believe, based on the video footage that we have been watching for a few days, they may have relevant information to the investigation. So we’re asking the public that you can help us identify who this individual is.”
He also urged the individual to come forward if they recognize themselves. “Please contact the police department,” Perez said.
The police chief later noted they have video footage that helped officials determine this person was at some point in the vicinity of the person of interest. “Close enough that we feel that we need to speak with them,” Perez said.
CNN is not publishing the photos of the individual because police have not indicated if the person has a connection to the case.
This post has been updated with additional comments from the police chief.
CNN’s Elise Hammond contributed to this post.
Correction: An earlier version of this post included a link to the wrong photo. It has been removed.
Investigators not discouraged as manhunt continues, AG says
It is the fifth day of the manhunt for the Brown University shooter, but law enforcement and investigators are not discouraged, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said today.
Speaking at a news conference, Neronha said there is an “enormous amount of energy” from people working tirelessly to find the person responsible for the shooting.
“There’s no discouragement among people who understand that not every case is a case that can be solved quickly,” he said.
The attorney general said leads are coming in and are being investigated by teams across the area. He said there is no lack of resources and that people are working well together.
Neronha also expressed optimism that they will catch the shooter.
Officials can’t say whether weapon used in mass shooting was a long gun, state AG says.
Officials are “not in a position to say” whether the weapon used in Saturday’s mass shooting at Brown University was a long gun, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said at a news conference.
“I don’t want anyone to leave this room thinking that this weapon was a long gun because that would be a misperception from what I know,” said Neronha, referring to guns with long barrels, such as a rifle.
As authorities continue searching for the suspect, Providence police said the gun used in the attack was a nine-millimeter firearm, a common caliber often used in violent crimes.
“It was several rounds, and it was a small caliber, actually 9mm firearm was used,” Police Chief Col. Oscar L. Perez Jr. said earlier this week.
Another victim released from the hospital as 6 remain hospitalized, Providence mayor says
Another victim of the Brown University shooting was released from the hospital Wednesday, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said during a news conference.
Six people remain hospitalized; one is in critical but stable condition, while five are in stable condition, Smiley said.
“The parents that I spoke with today all reported that their kids were improving,” the mayor added. “This is a happy announcement.”
Authorities release map showing streets where person of interest was seen on day of shooting
The Providence Police Department has released a map showing the streets where the person of interest in the Brown University shooting was present on the day of the incident.
The map, released on X, show streets marked in green to indicate where footage confirms the person walked hours before the shooting, police said.
Streets marked in red show locations where footage confirms the person was present immediately after the shooting.
A blue zone pinpoints the area where police are looking for video from any time on the day of the shooting, police explained.
Stumbles in search for Brown University shooter led to wrong man
On Sunday morning, as investigators rushed to prepare a search warrant for a hotel room in Coventry, Rhode Island, FBI Director Kash Patel broke the news on social media celebrating that a person of interest had been detained in the Brown University mass shooting.
Around the same time, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley announced the man’s detention from a podium, telling residents they can “breathe a little easier.”
It turned out to be the wrong man.
Patel’s announcement, made in a post on X, highlighted the role of the FBI in using cellphone tower data to find the alleged person of interest. By that time, however, some investigators already knew that the person of interest’s cellphone was never identified at the scene of the shooting, casting doubt on the man’s involvement, three people familiar with the investigation told CNN.
Within hours, those doubts grew as investigators determined that tests on shell casings found at the scene of the shooting didn’t match the DNA of the person of interest, two of the sources said.
Two handguns found in the hotel room of the person of interest also didn’t match ballistics of the casings, and a residue test on the man’s hands came back negative, the sources said.
The man detained was released later Sunday.
The FBI director’s social media post angered local and state officials in Rhode Island who viewed it as premature and damaging to the probe.
A person familiar with the FBI director’s social media post said that Patel was referring to the use of the CAST data to pinpoint the person’s location at the hotel.
The FBI declined to comment.
Read more about the initial stumbles in the investigation.
Student calls Barus and Holley the "worst building" for shooting to happen
The Barus and Holley engineering building was likely the worst location for the shooting because it lacks certain security measures found in other buildings on Brown University’s campus, student Joe McGonagle told CNN.
“In particular, though, most of the buildings … they had a lobby that anyone can get into, but after, anywhere you try to go after the lobby, they had a security guard where you had to swipe in. Barus and Holley was one of the only buildings that didn’t have something like that,” McGonagle said, adding that he believes this is because it’s an older building with a different layout.
“The front part of it was actually a cafe, so just anyone could walk in and then you could just walk down the hall, past the cafe, into the lecture halls,” he said, noting that he’s familiar with the building because he has taken exams and attended class in the lecture hall where the shooting happened.
McGonagle said he believes the school should have had cameras in all parts of the building, not just the newer areas, and that he was shocked there was not more surveillance.
“I’ve been there multiple times … the fact that there weren’t cameras there actually shocked me,” he said. “I figured there was going to be cameras at least in the hallway that would’ve picked them up because I knew there was cameras in the lecture hall, they just weren’t pointed at the doors to the entrance of the lecture,” he said.
Earlier today, Brown University officials defended the school’s security features and procedures.
Students at RISD say the school did not do enough to notify them of the shooting at nearby Brown University
When shots rang out during a deadly attack at Brown University, students at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) — an affiliated college with a campus adjacent to Brown’s — were warned of the incident through RISD’s emergency notification systems. However, the alerts came late and lacked crucial information, according to a petition calling for the college to merge its emergency alerts with Brown’s.
“Given the geographical overlap between both campuses, coordinated communication is essential so that students receive timely and consistent safety information,” the petition said.
The petition, launched Sunday, had garnered more than 2,800 signatures by Wednesday afternoon.
One person who signed the petition said they work at both schools and received both sets of notifications.
RISD’s first alert, which university officials confirmed was sent at 4:28 p.m., did not refer to the incident as an active shooter, according to the signatory.
“Brown sent out a detailed alert about the active shooter at 4:22 p.m. RISD’s alert system described the incident as ‘Police activity reported’ until over an hour later,” they said.
RISD sent an alert at 5:30 p.m. notifying the community that the incident at Brown was an active shooter, the school confirmed.
RISD officials said their focus is keeping the community informed, with safety and well-being as their top priority.
“As much as this event was unthinkable for all of us, it is something we must learn from. In the days ahead, RISD will assess our emergency response plans and evolve as appropriate,” said Jaime Marland, a university spokesperson.
Brown’s campus safety system has also faced criticism.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said yesterday that the shooting took place at the very edge of Brown University, in an older part of a building that has “fewer, if any” cameras.
“There certainly needs to be more cameras,” Talib Reddick, president of Brown University’s Undergraduate Council of Students, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
But Reddick also said Brown’s notifications were helpful.
“They’ve been reassuring us. They’ve been doing as best as they can. Brown has been sending out a lot of reports and updates to us,” Reddick said.
