Gunman Opens Fire at Brown University Finals, Killing 2 Students and Injuring 9
A gunman opened fire during final exams at Brown University, killing two students and injuring nine others, leading to a campus lockdown, a manhunt, and widespread shock and mourning in the community.
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Two students were killed and nine others injured when a gunman opened fire during final exams at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday, December 13, 2025, prompting a campus-wide lockdown and a massive police response cbsnews +1. A person of interest in their mid-20s was detained at a nearby hotel early Sunday, allowing officials to lift shelter-in-place orders, though investigators continued to probe the motive and circumstances of the attack youtube +1.
The shooting began inside the Barus & Holley engineering building during a Principles of Economics exam review session, shattering the quiet of finals weekend at the Ivy League campus and sending students scrambling for cover bbc +1. Officials said the attacker, described as a man dressed in black and armed with a handgun, moved through at least one classroom before fleeing, leaving behind scenes that police later called “chaotic and horrific” bbc +1.
How the Attack Unfolded on a Quiet Finals Weekend
Police and campus security received the first 911 calls shortly after 3:20 p.m. local time on Saturday, reporting gunfire inside Barus & Holley on Brook Street, just east of downtown Providence bbc +1. Within minutes, Brown’s emergency alert system ordered students and staff to “shelter in place immediately,” warning of an active shooter on or near campus cbsnews.
Officers from Providence police, Brown Public Safety, and state agencies converged on the East Side campus, going room to room in engineering and physics buildings as students barricaded doors or hid behind lab benches cbsnews +1. Video showed lines of students evacuating with their hands raised as heavily armed officers escorted them out youtube.
By early evening, police confirmed that two students had died and nine other people — including several students — were being treated at local hospitals, at least three with critical injuries bbc +1. Authorities released still images of a suspect dressed in dark clothing captured on security cameras, and the lockdown remained in effect into the night as the manhunt widened justice +1.
From Manhunt to Detention — and a Campus in Shock
Shortly before dawn on Sunday, police moved on a hotel several miles from campus after developing leads on a possible suspect, taking a person of interest into custody without incident youtube +1. Brown lifted its shelter-in-place order around 5:40 a.m., though officials urged students to limit movement as the investigation continued and formal charges had not yet been announced cbsnews +1.
In a message to the Brown community, university president Christina H. Paxson called it “a deeply tragic day for Brown,” promising counseling services and a review of security protocols as exams were suspended bbc. Providence’s mayor said residents had long viewed such violence as something that happened “in other places, but not here,” underscoring the psychological shock to a city and campus unaccustomed to mass shootings abcnews.
Across Rhode Island and neighboring states, vigils and gatherings were quickly organized, while national figures — including U.S. senators from New England — linked the attack to a broader pattern of campus and school shootings. “A community never, ever recovers from a shooting like this,” Senator Chris Murphy said, noting the attack fell 13 years to the day after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in his home state of Connecticut cnn.