On Saturday, December 13th a mass shooting occurred at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Authorities confirmed that this incident has left two students dead and nine injured. As of December 16, (say who may have been released and how many are still in critical condition).
An unknown gunman released fire on the university’s Barus & Holly Engineering and Physics building around 4:00 p.m. while students were reviewing for their upcoming final exams. Brown’s students were gathered in a campus classroom when the shooter entered and began firing at them.
The two known victims of the shooting have been identified as Ella Cook from Alabama and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzkocov who was a U.S dual citizen from Uzbekistan. The information of the other nine injured individuals has yet to be released to the public but are all being treated in nearby hospitals for their critical conditions.
A few of the University’s surviving students, like Joseph Oduro, have come forward to share their experience inside of the attacked building. Oduro says that he was in the lecture hall studying when the shooter entered through the door and made eye contact with him. “The gun was so big and long that I genuinely thought, like, okay, this is the end of the road for me,” said the unfortunate student.
Mayor of Providence, Brett Smiley, and other officials said that the gunman used a firearm to discharge dozens of rounds just before fleeing on foot. There was surveillance footage released of a man dressed in dark clothing walking down the sidewalk away from the crime scene but so far the shooter has not been apprehended.
In the hours following the attack, Providence police had detained a person of interest but later released him after deciding that he was not related to the attack. Since then another person of interest has been detained and also released, leading to the continuation of the manhunt as police search for the shooter. As of December 18th, authorities are examining DNA evidence and fingerprints found on shell casings at the scene.
This incident is especially heart breaking because of how close to home it is and it really puts it into perspective that horrible events like this can happen at even the nicest of places anywhere in the world.