A crazed gunman dressed in black stormed an engineering building at Brown University, killing at least two people and injuring nine others before escaping police and remaining at large, officials said.
The horrific mass shooting left the Ivy League campus and parts of the Rhode Island city of Providence under lockdown and in a state of terror as a desperate manhunt was underway.
“Sadly today is the day we prayed would never come,” said city Mayor Brett Smiley at an evening press conference.
Officials said the two slain victims and eight victims who were critically injured were all students. A ninth victim who was wounded by bullet fragments and not seriously injured had an unknown status.
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“There’s a lot of fear and anxiety. This is still early hours,” the mayor said.
Police received a call of an active shooter at the Rhode Island school around 4:05 p.m., the mayor said. The shooting took place in a first floor classroom at the Barus & Holley Engineering building on a day where final exams were going on.
Police said the response to the shooting was quick.
“Our officers responded and entered that building immediately and began searching for a suspect. However no suspect was located at that time,” said Tim O’Hara, Providence’s deputy police chief.
There was initially confusion over whether a suspect had been captured, with officials initially saying someone was in custody — and President Trump also saying in a social media post that the shooter was captured — before the report was retracted and it was confirmed the attacker was at large.
The alleged suspect has been described as a male dressed in black, who witnesses said appeared to be in his 30s. He used a handgun in the attack, according to authorities. A weapon was not recovered.
“It is unknown how he entered the building,” O’Hara said, adding the suspect fled the building on foot, according to eyewitness accounts that were shared with police. Police later released a video of a person all in black walking near the school that they believe is the shooter.
The Ivy League school sent out a first alert to students on campus shortly after 4:20 p.m. of an active shooter near the engineering school building.
Providence police were the first to confirm multiple people were shot.
“Multiple shot in the area of Brown University. This is an active investigation. Please shelter in place or avoid the area until further notice,” the PD said on X.
The university sent out a second emergency alert just before 5 p.m. claiming a suspect had been arrrested before retracting that statement just minutes later.
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“One suspect in custody. Lock doors, silence phones and stay hidden until further notice,” the university wrote.
“Continue to shelter in place. Remain away from Barus & Holley area. Police do not have a suspect in custody and continue to search for suspect(s),” the retraction added.
An individual who was preliminarily thought to be involved was detained by police, but “later found not to be involved,” the mayor explained, adding the campus remains under shelter in place orders, as of Saturday night.
“It was honestly quite terrifying,” student Katie Sun, who was studying in the Engineering Research Center lobby when she heard gunshots around 4:10pm, told the The Brown Daily Herald, the school’s newspaper. “The shots seemed like they were coming from … where the classrooms are.”
Officials said that a swipe card was required to enter the classrooms where finals were happening, though the building was open.
“Anybody could have accessed the building at that time,” Smiley said.
After officials said 8 victims were in critical but stable condition, Brown University Health hospital said one is in critical and not stable, and one is now in stable, NBC news said. Smiley later said that the 9th person wounded by bullet fragments later went to a hospital on their own.
Rhode Island Gov. Dan Mckee said that he talked to Trump, who expressed his desire to catch the killer and said that the feds would do everything to help.
Saturday night Trump told reporters “all we can do right now is pray for the victims.”
Saturday was the second day of final exams for the fall semester.
Video footage obtained by the student paper showed police officers assisting several victims on the ground near the Sciences Library.
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said his office is actively monitoring the shooting and working with law enforcement.
“Praying for our community,” he wrote on X.
“The unthinkable has happened,” he said at the press conference.
At a late Saturday night press conference Smiley said that despite the continued lockdown for the school and neighboring area there was no immediate threat.
“We have no reason to believe that there are any additional threats at this time,” he said at a news conference. “Any calls that have been received in the last several hours to 911 have been unrelated.”
“We have no reason to believe that there are any additional threats at this time,” he said at a news conference. “Any calls that have been received in the last several hours to 911 have been unrelated.”
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