Police in the US state of Rhode Island launched a massive manhunt late Saturday after a deadly shooting at Brown University in Providence left two students dead and at least eight others critically injured, officials confirmed. A ninth person was also wounded by bullet fragments in the attack, according to city authorities.
The shooting occurred inside Brown’s Barus & Holley engineering building, where students were sitting for exams at the time. Chaos erupted as gunfire rang out, prompting an immediate lockdown across the Ivy League campus.
“The individual responsible is still at large,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told reporters during a late-night press conference. Deputy Police Chief Timothy O’Hara said the suspect had not yet been identified and was believed to be a male dressed in black, possibly wearing a mask. Authorities later announced that surveillance video of the suspect would be released to aid the search.
Streets surrounding the campus remained sealed off for hours as emergency vehicles flooded the area. Security was heightened across Providence, with police warning residents to remain alert while the suspect remained on the run.
Investigators recovered shell casings from the scene but declined to release further details about the weapon used or the motive behind the attack. Officials confirmed that the shooter fled the scene shortly after opening fire.
“We are a week and a half away from Christmas,” Mayor Smiley said earlier in the evening. “And two people died today and another eight are in the hospital. Please pray for those families.”
Brown University President Christina Paxson described the incident as a devastating moment for the institution. “This is the day one hopes never happens, and it has,” she told reporters, adding that all or nearly all of the victims were students.
Following the shooting, the university issued emergency alerts instructing students and staff to shelter in place. Many remained locked inside classrooms and laboratories for hours as police conducted building-by-building searches.
Brown student Chiang-Heng Chien told local television station WJAR that he and three other students hid under desks in a laboratory after receiving a text alert warning of an active shooter nearby. “We stayed there for about two hours, just waiting and hoping it would be over,” he said.
Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee condemned the attack and vowed that authorities would apprehend the suspect. “We’re going to make sure that we catch the individual who brought so much suffering to so many people,” he said.
The search effort was complicated by the large crowds in downtown Providence, where holiday shoppers and thousands of people attending concerts filled the streets. Local media reported that venues across the city increased security, while federal law enforcement agencies and police from surrounding towns joined the manhunt.
President Donald Trump confirmed that he had been briefed on the situation, calling the shooting “terrible.” Speaking at the White House, he said, “All we can do right now is pray for the victims and for those that were very badly hurt.”
Brown University is located on College Hill in Providence, Rhode Island’s capital city, and comprises hundreds of academic buildings, dormitories, and research facilities. The shooting marks one of the deadliest incidents in the university’s history.
The tragedy has once again drawn attention to the issue of gun violence in the United States. Compared with other developed nations, the US experiences far higher rates of mass shootings, including in schools, workplaces, and places of worship.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot, there have been 389 such incidents in the US this year alone. At least six of those shootings have taken place at schools. Last year, the country recorded more than 500 mass shootings nationwide.
As investigators continue their search, university officials said counseling services and support resources would be made available to students and staff affected by the tragedy.
