What we're covering
• Authorities hunting for the perpetrator of the deadly mass shooting at Brown University are sifting hundreds of tips and taking DNA swabs after releasing a new photo, “enhanced” videos and a video timeline of a person of interest in the hours before Saturday’s attack. The suspect is “approximately 5’8” with a stocky build,” said the FBI, which announced a $50,000 reward.
• 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 are canceled. The campus remains on edge, and the governor ordered a sweeping review of its safety measures. At least 75 school shootings have happened this year in the United States.
Brown University president addressed "unimaginable and senseless violence" of shooting in letter
Brown University President Christina H. Paxson released a letter yesterday mourning the two students, Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, killed in Saturday’s shooting.
Paxson said the university withheld their names earlier to “give their families some space to grieve, but now it is important that we never forget them.”
Paxson shared what she learned about Cook and Umurzokov, describing them as “brilliant and beloved.”
“I have learned that Ella, who came to Brown from Mountain Brook, Alabama, was a passionate and intellectually curious member of our community who was interested in French and Francophone studies,” Paxson said, adding that Cook was also an accomplished pianist who volunteered at her church.
Paxson paid tribute to Umurzokov, adding he “was known for being driven, conscientious and disciplined, particularly as he pursued his deep ambition to make a positive impact in the world by becoming a neurosurgeon.”
Brown University will host a virtual interfaith community service at 3 p.m. ET
A virtual interfaith community service event will be hosted by Brown University’s Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life at 3 p.m. ET today.
“In this moment of grief and uncertainty, we invite students to gather for virtual Interfaith Community Prayers — a quiet, supportive space for reflection, remembrance, and care,” the office’s website said.
The event is open to the entire Brown University community and will draw on “multiple spiritual and faith traditions, while welcoming students of all beliefs and those who do not identify with a particular faith,” the site stated.
You can watch the service live on the Brown University site.
Friends and former classmates of Brown victim remember his clear sense of purpose
Friends and former classmates of MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, in an interview with CNN affiliate WTVR, remembered the Brown University freshman who was killed in last weekend’s attack on the school as a brilliant student, known for his compassion.
“He was the smartest guy I’ve ever met. He was really hard working, but none of that took away from his ability and generosity he had towards helping other people,” Alex Bradbury told WTVR.
Umurzokov, his friends say, had planned to become a neurosurgeon.
“He probably could have saved lives doing what he was going to do, and now he’s not going to be able to do that,” Sienna Rosenberg said.
Umurzokov’s friends also expressed anger over the senseless violence and concern that the shooter has not yet been apprehended.
“It’s like — you murdered my friend and you’re just walking away,” Umurzokov’s friend Susanna said of the shooter.
Providence police released “enhanced” video of person of interest in the Brown University shooting
Video released by Providence police on Tuesday provides a zoomed-in look at someone authorities say is a person of interest in the Brown shooting.
“ENHANCED VIDEO: We are releasing an enhanced video of the person of interest in the Brown University incident. Footage was captured on the East Side of Providence on Saturday afternoon before the incident,” police posted on X on Tuesday.
All videos included in Tuesday’s release were taken around 2 p.m. Saturday, according to time stamps. That was before the shooting, which was reported around 4 p.m.
Movement in the manhunt for the Brown shooter likely "over the next day or two," former FBI official says
A community “very protective of their houses and their grounds,” like the neighborhoods around the Brown University campus, is likely to notice unusual behavior like that displayed by the person of interest in the attack on the school, a former FBI assistant director told CNN.
“A person like this, who, four years after Covid, is wearing a surgical mask, he’s wearing very bulky clothing, he’s just hanging around in the neighborhood?” Chris Swecker, former FBI assistant director for the criminal investigative division, said Wednesday. “I think there’s a lot to work with here.”
“I think we’re going to see some movement in this case here over the next day or two,” he said, talking to CNN’s John Berman on “CNN News Central.”
Swecker said the investigation should unfold similarly to those done after bank robberies. “We’d have a grainy photo from the bank, but always they canvassed the bank. They always hung out in a nearby neighborhood. There was always a car,” he explained.
“These neighborhood canvases have to go out right away. They can’t just be in the immediate neighborhood. You have to go out further and further and just do very, very thorough interviews and knock on doors and walk the area,” Swecker told CNN.
Rhode Island official's statements suggest “some strong leads” in hunt for Brown shooter, analyst says
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha’s recent statements indicating he expects an apprehension in connection with the Brown University shooting in the near future suggest that law enforcement are working “some strong leads,” former Boston police commissioner Ed Davis told CNN’s John Berman Wednesday.
“As a public official, you don’t make a statement like that unless you’re on to something,” Davis told CNN.
Davis pointed to identifiers like the “rather unique jacket” the person of interest is seen wearing in surveillance images as a major clue. “I’m sure they already know who the manufacturer of that jacket is, and then they can look for distribution outlets in the area and start to comb through those lists of people who have purchased that jacket over the last year or two,” Davis said.
Davis said it’s possible those who know and can identify the shooter are currently struggling with whether to turn him in. “Tragically, no one’s called yet. So hopefully they’re struggling with that right now and will eventually make the right decision, because they are in legal peril if they don’t call,” he said.
Hundreds of tips, DNA swabs and new video: Inside the Brown University manhunt
Investigators working out of a makeshift task force in a third-floor office of Providence police headquarters received hundreds of tips on Tuesday as they raced to identify the individual responsible for this weekend’s shooting at Brown University.
As tips came in, they were triaged based on how valuable, immediate or detailed they were, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation. Anything that looked like it might yield a viable suspect went to the top of the pile.
Detectives weighed how to approach certain potential suspects who emerged from tips or other leads. Investigative strategy discussions dictated who might be put under surveillance, who might be brought in for a conversation, or who might be interviewed wherever they were located. Alibis were to be established and checked, and buccal swabs were taken from those willing to supply DNA.
The collection of DNA samples may suggest investigators believe they recovered DNA at the scene, perhaps from an item thought to be discarded by the suspect or something they touched. That would also suggest that the DNA is not in the national DNA criminal database, CODIS, or investigators would have already established the shooter’s identity.
The more public-facing developments involved video: The FBI worked up some materials for the investigative team, including an “enhanced” still picture of a person of interest walking down the street and a video timeline complete with maps to display his walking route and where each image was captured.
The latter was later taken down by the FBI to protect the information about what address cooperated by supplying video to the authorities, the sources said, and replaced with a new video that followed the person’s walking trail through Providence with close-up video playing in a box to the side of the wide shot. This was meant not just to help investigators establish the person of interest’s routes but also to generate better, more telling images in hopes a member of the public would recognize them.
The fact that nearly every image that was probative was recovered by cameras that were off campus drew questions from reporters about why none were recovered from the Barus and Holley engineering building on campus, where the shooting unfolded.
Investigators told reporters that video was recovered from multiple cameras in the building that showed students running and the chaos during and after the shooting. But the person of interest appeared to have traveled through an older part of the structure where there was little or no camera coverage.
Once again, it raised questions in the minds of detectives: Was the shooter lucky? Or were they already familiar with the target location, where victims would be on a Saturday –– and where cameras would not?
Trump criticizes Brown University over lack of security cameras after campus shooting
President Donald Trump criticized Brown University in a social media post overnight, faulting the school for having too few surveillance cameras in the building where a mass shooting occurred.
The president’s post came after the mayor of Providence said the building where the shooting took place was on the edge of the university’s campus and the school’s video cameras were unable to follow the shooter.
Earlier this week, Trump deflected blame from the FBI when pressed by CNN about why it has been so challenging for the nation’s top law enforcement agency to track down the shooter, saying, “It’s always difficult.”
“You’d really have to ask the school a little bit more about that, because this was a school problem. They had their own guards, they had their own police and their own everything,” Trump said.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told CNN in response that it was not the school’s fault but rather the gunman’s.
Catch up on the latest as the manhunt for the Brown University shooter enters day 5
Days after a mass shooting at Brown University left two students dead and nine others hospitalized, authorities in Providence, Rhode Island, are still searching for the suspect.
Here’s the latest on the ongoing investigation:
- New videos: Law enforcement yesterday released a new photo, “enhanced” videos and a video timeline showing a person of interest’s movements in the hours leading up to Saturday’s shooting. Much of the footage was captured off-campus as authorities say the building where the shooting happened was old and had “fewer, if any” cameras.
- Help from the public: Authorities hope the videos detailing the person’s gait and posture will help the public identify them. Police have also asked residents to provide additional video footage, including from equipped vehicles like Teslas, dating back at least a week.
- One victim still in critical: One shooting victim remains in critical condition, two have been discharged from the hospital and the six others are in various stable conditions, hospital officials announced today. Authorities said there is no evidence Ella Cook, who was fatally shot Saturday, was targeted. MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, 18, has been identified as the other student who was killed.
- Anxieties are high: Students are eager to get home to safety and security after Saturday’s attack, with many people in Providence still feeling shaken up. The university has reiterated its commitment to community well-being as Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said he’ll form working groups to discuss safety and mental health.
