Authorities say they will release person of interest detained in Brown
University shooting
[December 15, 2025]
By KIMBERLEE KRUESI, AMANDA SWINHART and HOLLY RAMER
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A person of interest detained after a Brown
University shooting that killed two students and injured nine will be
released after law enforcement authorities determined there was no basis
to keep the individual in custody, officials said Sunday night.
The disclosure, made at a hastily convened late night news conference,
represents a dramatic setback in an investigation into killings that set
off hours of chaos on the Ivy League campus and unravels progress that
authorities thought they had made earlier in the day when they detained
a man at a Rhode Island hotel in connection with the attack.
No current suspect in deadly shooting
The release of the lone person of interest leaves law enforcement
without any known suspect, with officials pledging to redouble efforts
in the investigation by canvassing for video surveillance that could
help pinpoint the killer's identity.
“We have a murderer out there,” said Attorney General Peter Neronha,
while Providence Mayor Brett Smiley acknowledged that ”the news is
likely to cause fresh anxiety for our community."
Despite an enhanced police presence at Brown, officials are not
recommending another shelter-in-place order like the one that followed
the Saturday afternoon shooting, when hundreds of officers searched for
the shooter and urged students and staff to shelter in place. The
lockdown, which stretched into the night, was lifted early Sunday, but
authorities had not yet released information about a potential motive.
On Sunday morning, officials took into custody a person of interest at a
Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island, about 20 miles (32
kilometers) from Providence. Two people familiar with the matter
identified that individual as a 24-year-old man from Wisconsin, though
authorities never released the individual's name.
"I’ve been around long enough to know that sometimes you head in one
direction and then you have to regroup and go in another and that’s
exactly what has happened over the last 24 hours or so,” Neronha said.
He said that “certainly there was some degree of evidence that pointed
to the individual” who'd been taken into custody but “that evidence
needed to be corroborated and confirmed. And over the last 24 hours
leading into just very, very recently, that evidence now points in a
different direction.”
Shooting occurred during busy period on campus
The shooting occurred during one of the busiest moments of the academic
calendar, as final exams were underway. Brown canceled all remaining
classes, exams, papers and projects for the semester and told students
they could leave campus, underscoring the scale of the disruption and
the gravity of the attack.
As police scoured the area for the shooter, many students remained
barricaded in rooms while others hid behind furniture and bookshelves.
One video showed students in a library shaking and wincing as they heard
loud bangs just before police entered the room to clear the building.
University President Christina Paxson teared up while describing her
conversations with students both on campus and in the hospital.
“They are amazing and they’re supporting each other,” she said at a news
conference. “There’s just a lot of gratitude.”
The gunman opened fire inside a classroom in the engineering building,
firing more than 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun, a law enforcement
official told AP. Two handguns were recovered when the person of
interest was taken into custody and authorities also found two loaded
30-round magazines, the official said. One of the firearms was equipped
with a laser sight that projects a dot to aid in targeting, said the
official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly
and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity.
One student of the nine wounded students had been released from the
hospital, said Paxson. Seven others were in critical but stable
condition, and one was in critical condition.
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A bouquet of flowers rests on snow, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, on the
campus of Brown University not far from where a shooting took place,
in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Durham Academy, a private K-12 school in Durham, North Carolina,
confirmed that a recent graduate, Kendall Turner, was critically
wounded. The school said her parents were with her.
“Our school community is rallying around Kendall, her classmates,
and her loved ones, and we will continue to offer our full support
in the days ahead,” the school said.
Community comes together to remember victims
On Sunday evening, city leaders, residents and others gathered at a
park to honor the victims. The event originally was scheduled as a
Christmas tree and Hanukkah menorah lighting.
“For those who know at least bit of the Hanukkah story, it is quite
clear that if we can come together as a community to shine a little
bit of light tonight, there’s nothing better that we can be doing,”
Mayor Brett Smiley said at a news conference earlier in the day.
Smiley said he visited some wounded students and was inspired by
their courage, hope and gratitude. One told him that active shooting
drills done in high school proved helpful.
“The resilience that these survivors showed and shared with me, is
frankly pretty overwhelming,” he said.
Exams were underway when the shooting began
Investigators were not immediately sure how the shooter got inside
the first-floor classroom at the Barus & Holley building, a
seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and
physics department. The building includes more than 100
laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices, according to the
university’s website.
Engineering design exams were underway. Outer doors of the building
were unlocked but rooms being used for final exams required badge
access, Smiley said.
Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the lobby
working on a final project when she heard loud pops. Once she
realized they were gunshots, she darted for the door and into a
nearby building where she waited for hours.
Surveillance video released by police showed a suspect, dressed in
black, walking from the scene.
Former ‘Survivor’ contestant left the building just before
shooting
Eva Erickson, a doctoral candidate who was the runner-up earlier
this year on the CBS reality competition show “Survivor,” said she
left her lab in the engineering building 15 minutes before shots
rang out.
The engineering and thermal science student shared candid moments on
“Survivor” as the show’s first openly autistic contestant. She was
locked down in the campus gym following the shooting and shared on
social media that the only other member of her lab who was present
was safely evacuated.
Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final
research project in his dorm across the street from the building
when he heard sirens outside.
“I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as
officers surrounded his dorm.
Brown, the seventh-oldest higher education institution in the U.S.,
is one of the nation’s most prestigious colleges, with roughly 7,300
undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students.
___
Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Contributing were
Associated Press journalists Jennifer McDermott in Providence;
Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and Alanna Durkin Richer, Mike
Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington, D.C.
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