Shooting at Brown University Leaves Two Dead, Nine Wounded During Finals Week
A gunman opened fire during a final exam review session at Brown University on Friday, killing two students and wounding nine others in a rampage that sent the prestigious campus into lockdown and shocked the academic community nationwide.
The shooting occurred inside Room 166 on the first floor of the Barus and Holley Building around 2:30 p.m. on December 13, as students were preparing for end-of-semester exams, according to authorities. Ten of the 11 people shot were students, university officials confirmed.
Suspect in Custody
Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez announced at a late evening press conference that a person of interest — described only as someone in their 30s — has been detained in connection with the shooting. Investigators believe the attacker used a handgun.
Surveillance footage released by law enforcement shows a male figure dressed entirely in black calmly walking away from the building after the shooting. Multiple witnesses told police the suspect may have been wearing a camouflage mask, according to video evidence reviewed by investigators.
“Everybody’s reeling, and we have a lot of recovery ahead of us,” said Brown University President Christina Paxson, her voice wavering as she addressed reporters. The typically bustling campus had transformed into a crime scene, with yellow tape cordoning off the engineering building as students were evacuated.
The Victims
First responders transported nine people with gunshot wounds to Rhode Island Hospital following the attack. Hospital officials indicated one patient remains in critical condition, while six others are in intensive care but stable. Two additional patients were listed in good condition.
The names of the deceased have not yet been released, pending notification of family members.
How did the shooter gain access to a classroom during finals week? That’s the question investigators are struggling to answer. The Barus & Holley building — a seven-story complex housing the School of Engineering and physics department — had its outer doors unlocked during exams, but rooms being used for finals required badge access, according to university protocols.
Campus in Crisis
Students described chaotic scenes as the shelter-in-place order was issued. For several hours, they huddled in classrooms, libraries and dorms while heavily armed officers conducted a building-by-building search of the campus and surrounding neighborhoods.
“I was studying in the library when my phone started blowing up with alerts,” said junior Maya Chen, who spent three hours hiding in a storage closet. “We could hear police sirens everywhere.”
Later, officers in tactical gear escorted groups of students to safety, directing them to a nearby fitness center or onto buses. Many left without jackets or personal belongings in the December cold, having fled their study spaces with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
National Response
President Donald Trump addressed the shooting Friday evening, saying he had been “fully briefed” on the situation. “What a terrible thing it is,” Trump said. “All we can do right now is pray for the victims and for those that were very badly hurt…just pray.”
The shooting has already reignited discussions about campus security and gun control. Rhode Island has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, a fact that will likely feature prominently in the political aftermath of this tragedy.
The Barus & Holley building, with its more than 100 laboratories and dozens of classrooms and offices, stands as the intellectual heart of Brown’s engineering program. Now it’s also the site of the university’s darkest day.
As night fell over Providence, students gathered for an impromptu vigil on the main green, illuminating the historic campus with hundreds of phone flashlights — small beacons of hope in a community suddenly plunged into mourning.
