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Brown University Shooters Kill 2, Wound 9; Manhunt Ongoing After Lockdown

Brown University Shooters Kill 2, Wound 9; Manhunt Ongoing After Lockdown
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Two Brown University students were killed and nine others were wounded in a campus shooting Saturday that triggered a 12-hour lockdown and a multi-agency manhunt which remained underway Monday, after authorities released a 24-year-old man previously detained as a person of interest.nbcnews +1 The Ivy League school has canceled the remainder of its fall semester as investigators search for a suspect described as a man dressed in black who fled the scene.cnn +1

The attack unfolded on the afternoon of December 13 inside the Barus and Holley building, a science and engineering facility on Brown’s Providence, Rhode Island, campus, during final exam period.foxnews +1 The victims who died were identified as Brown students Ella Cook, of Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an international student from Uzbekistan, while several of the nine injured remained hospitalized, at least one in critical but stable condition.foxnews +2

Manhunt Intensifies After Release of Person of Interest

Police from Providence, Rhode Island State Police, and the FBI have been canvassing neighborhoods around campus and reviewing surveillance footage as they search for the gunman, urging residents to turn over any videos or tips that might identify the suspect.bbc +1 Authorities initially detained Benjamin Erickson, 24, at a hotel in Coventry on Sunday, but said late that night he would be released after evidence “pointed elsewhere,” prompting renewed anxiety as the shooter remained at large.nbcnews +1

Mayor Brett Smiley acknowledged that the decision was “likely to cause fresh anxiety,” while emphasizing that investigators were working “around the clock” to track the assailant and that more than 100 officers had been deployed in the search.nbcnews +1 Boston and Harvard University police both heightened security despite saying there was no specific threat to their jurisdictions, illustrating how the uncertainty around the still-unidentified suspect rippled across New England.providencejournal

Campus Grieves as Security Questions Mount

Brown President Christina Paxson told students, staff, and alumni that “our hearts break for the loss of our students,” and confirmed the university would send students home early and suspend most in-person operations as the community mourned and sought counseling support.cnn +1 Students described barricading themselves in classrooms and basements for hours as police methodically cleared buildings, a lockdown that lasted through the night and underscored both the scale of the response and the terror on campus.nbcboston +1

The shooting also reignited debate over the safety of Brown’s traditionally open campus, where academic buildings are widely accessible to the public, with security experts and some faculty questioning whether access controls and emergency protocols were adequate.wcvb Advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety said the attack showed that “students on college campuses should be preparing for final exams and winter break — not enduring yet another all too familiar tragedy caused by gun violence,” as political leaders from Rhode Island to Alabama called for both support for victims and renewed attention to prevention.washingtonpost +1

The Bigger Picture

As the manhunt entered its third day, Providence residents and Brown students were left navigating a dual sense of grief and unease, with a killer still at large and a campus abruptly emptied before the holidays.bbc +1 The episode highlighted how a single act of violence could paralyze an institution built on openness, forcing universities nationwide to reexamine how they balance access and security in an era when the familiar rituals of college life can be upended in minutes.