Person of interest in custody in deadly Brown University shooting

By Christen Smith and Dan McCaleb
The Center Square

A “person of interest” is in custody in connection to Saturday’s shooting at Brown University that left two people dead and nine others injured, authorities said Sunday morning.

The person of interest was apprehended at a hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island, just southwest of the Providence-based campus, multiple news outlets reported. Few other details were released as of mid-morning.

Saturday night, local law enforcement described the suspect as a male wearing all black who opened fire in Barus & Holley Building during final exams in the afternoon.

The campus and Providence had been placed on lockdown, but that ended Sunday morning when the person of interest was taken into custody.

“We are able to report that we have detained a person of interest involved in yesterday’s shooting,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said at a Sunday morning news conference. “I want to let the Providence community know we are lifting the shelter-in-place.”

Of the nine people injured in the mass shooting, seven are in stable condition, Smiley said, one is in critical condition, and one was released from the hospital. Authorities were not yet ready to release information about the victims, Smiley said.

Colonel Oscar L. Perez, Jr. of the Providence Police Department said authorities could not release many details as the investigation is ongoing. Perez said as of the Sunday morning news conference, police are not looking for any other suspects.

Roughly 11,000 students attend the Ivy League university established in 1764. Brown University said it would be issuing a series of announcements regarding this week’s campus schedule.

President Donald Trump told Fox News from the White House that he’d been “fully briefed” on the situation. Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee confirmed he’d been in touch with the president, as well, and the FBI is assisting with the investigation.

“What a terrible thing it is,” he said. “And all we can do right now is pray for the victims.”