Shooting at Brown University Leaves Two Dead, Nine Wounded
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded nine others at brown University on Saturday during final exams on the Ivy League campus, authorities saeid. Police are searching for the suspect.
University President Christina Paxson said she was told that 10 people who were shot were students. Another person was injured by fragments from the shooting, but it wasn’t clear if that person was a student.
Officers searched across the campus and into a nearby neighborhood filled with historic homes late into the night after the shooting. They looked in academic buildings, backyards, and porches.
The suspect is a man in dark clothing who was last seen leaving the engineering building where the attack happened, said Timothy O’Hara, deputy chief of Providence police.
Security footage showed the suspect walking away from the building, but his face wasn’t visible. Some witnesses reported that the man, who could be in his 30s, may have been wearing a camouflage mask, O’Hara said.
Investigators aren’t sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom. Outer doors of the building were unlocked, but rooms used for final exams needed badge access, Providence’s mayor said.
Hunt for suspect quiets city streets
Authorities believe the shooter used a handgun,according to a law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the ongoing examination.
“The unthinkable has happened,” said Rhode Island Gov.Dan McKee, who promised that all resources were being used to catch the suspect.
Mayor Brett Smiley said a shelter-in-place was still in effect and encouraged people near the campus to stay inside or not return home until it was lifted. Streets that are usually busy on weekends were very quiet.
“The Brown community’s heart is breaking, and Providence’s heart is breaking with it,” Smiley said.
Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the building’s lobby working on a final project when she heard the shots.