A person of interest was taken into custody overnight in connection with the shooting at Brown University, officials said on Sunday.
The shooting erupted Saturday afternoon in the engineering building of the Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island, during final exams. At least two people were killed and nine were wounded in the shooting.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told reporters on Sunday that seven of those hospitalized remain in stable condition and one is in critical condition. One person injured was discharged.
“This is an incredibly upsetting and emotional time for Providence and Brown — for all of us,” he said.
University President Christina Paxson told reporters on Saturday that all the victims, those killed and wounded, were students.
“Everybody’s reeling, and we have a lot of recovery ahead of us,” Paxson said at the news conference Sunday.
Surveillance video released by police shows the suspect, dressed in black, calmly walking away from the scene. His face is not visible and investigators said it wasn’t clear whether the suspect is a student.
Officials did not identify the suspect on Sunday.
Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez said public details about the person of interest would be limited, but he did say the detained suspect was in their 30s. Perez would not say whether or how the person was affiliated with the university.
“This is exactly the kind of collaboration that we train for and that we hope for,” Smiley said. “Our partnership with the FBI, with the state police, and obviously, the heroic actions of the Providence police have brought us to this point.”
A shelter-in-place for Brown University and the surrounding areas that was in place on Saturday has been lifted.
“However, police activity continues in areas that are still considered an active crime scene,” the university said. “Be advised that access to these areas of campus continues to be limited.”
Investigators were not immediately sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom. Outer doors of the building were unlocked but rooms being used for final exams required badge access, Smiley said on Saturday.
“In a building like that on a weekend, there are a lot of things going on,” Brown Provost Francis Doyle said on Saturday. “Study sessions, student groups meeting, there are research labs in that building. So we don’t have detailed knowledge of exactly what was happening, but we’re working with law enforcement.”
Smiley said Sunday that there will be an enhanced police presence around the city to comfort the community, but not because the area is part of the investigation.
