At least two students died and nine were injured in a Saturday shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island, according to authorities.
Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said at a press conference early Sunday that a person of interest was detained overnight but declined to provide additional identifying information about where the individual was detained or whether the person of interest was a fellow student at the university. Perez added that he still believes the person of interest is in their 30s.
Coventry police, which assisted the FBI in apprehending the individual, told WPRI that the person was taken into custody without issue at 3:45 a.m. local time at the Hampton Inn and Suites on Center of New England Blvd. The individual was then transported to Providence, R.I.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley (D) told reporters at the press conference Sunday that the conditions of the nine students transported to the hospital Saturday afternoon had not deteriorated overnight. As of early Sunday, seven people were in stable condition at the hospital, one was in stable but critical condition, and one person had been discharged from the hospital, Smiley said.
“The people of Providence should breathe a little easier this morning,” Smiley said Sunday. “The investigation with regard to the individual who has been detained is very much ongoing and in the middle of it right now, but we’re providing this update specifically so that the people of Providence can breathe a little easier this morning.”
“That is also why we feel confident and comfortable to lift the shelter in place for the city,” he continued.
Brown alerted students and campus faculty of an active shooter near the Barus and Holley engineering building at 4:22 p.m. EST. Officials told reporters that final exams were underway in the building during the afternoon. They said the suspect was dressed in black and last seen leaving the building. Later on Saturday night, officials said the shooting occurred in a classroom.
Early Sunday, Brown University President Christina Paxson said it’s her understanding that the shooting occurred in a final exam room.
“This is a deeply tragic day for Brown, our families and our local community,” Brown University President Christina Paxson said in an initial statement.
Later Sunday morning, Brown University Provost Francis J. Doyle III announced that all classes and final exams were postponed.
Local, state and federal officials and law enforcement touted the close collaboration at all levels to bring the person of interest into custody so quickly. Smiley said police would remain stationed throughout the city to provide a sense of ease for the community.
Hours after the shooting, officers were hunting through academic buildings, backyards and porches, The Associated Press reported. The university has roughly 7,300 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate students.
“The FBI is on the scene,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social while at the Army-Navy college football game, noting that he had been briefed on the situation. “God bless the victims and the families of the victims!”
The school previously said a suspect was in custody and later corrected its alert to students and staff to say the suspect has not been arrested, WCVB-TV, a Massachusetts-based news station, reported. Trump also noted the reversal after previously sharing on Truth Social that a suspect was in custody.
“We’re all thinking of and praying for the victims tonight,” Vice President Vance posted on the social platform X.
The university said in an earlier alert that the community has been informed to “shelter in place by locking doors, silence phones and stay hidden until further notice.”
The order was lifted shortly before 6 a.m. on Sunday.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said in a statement that his “heart breaks for the students who were looking forward to a holiday break and instead are dealing with another horrifying mass shooting, this time in our own Providence community.”
“This is an active situation, and I echo Mayor Smiley in urging Rhode Islanders to heed only official updates from Brown University and the Providence Police,” he added. “We will get through this as a community.”
Fellow Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed (D) said in his own statement that “some families, classmates, and loved ones are gathered together in hospital waiting rooms at this very moment waiting for updates on patients.”
“We are with them in spirit,” he said. “They will need the support of all us in the days ahead.”
The FBI’s Boston field office said on X that it is assisting law enforcement in Rhode Island.
“It was honestly quite terrifying,” student Katie Sun told The Brown Daily Herald, the university newspaper. “The shots seemed like they were coming from … where the classrooms are.”
Updated at 8:50 a.m. EST
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