PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Hundreds of police officers combed the Brown University campus and surrounding areas and reviewed video in search of the shooter, who opened fire in the classroomkilling two people and injuring nine others.
The search dragged on until late at night, much later shooting started On a Saturday afternoon in the engineering building of an Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island, during final exams.
Surveillance video released by police shows the suspect, dressed in black, calmly leaving the scene. His face is not visible and investigators said it is unclear whether the suspect is a student.
The suspect was last seen leaving the engineering building, and some witnesses told police the suspect, who is in his 30s, may have been wearing a camouflage mask, Providence Deputy Police Chief Timothy O'Hara said.
University President Christina Paxson said she was told that 10 of those shot were students. Another person was wounded by shrapnel from the shooting, but it was unclear whether the victim was a student, she said.
Search for the shooter paralyzed the campusnearby neighborhoods filled with stately brick homes and the heart of Rhode Island's capital city. The streets, usually busy on weekends, were eerily quiet.
The students hid in place until late at night. Officers in tactical gear escorted students from some campus buildings to a fitness center where they waited. The rest arrived at the shelter on buses without jackets or any belongings.
Investigators did not immediately understand how the shooter got into the classroom on the first floor. The building's exterior doors were unlocked, but a pass was required to enter the rooms used for final exams, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said.
He urged people living near campus to stay inside or not return home until the stay-at-home order is lifted.
“The heart of the Brown community is breaking, and the heart of Providence is breaking with it,” Smiley said.
Authorities believe the shooter used a handgun, said a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Democratic Gov. Dan McKee vowed that every resource was being deployed to catch the suspect. Rhode Island has some of the strictest gun laws in the United States.
Nine people were taken to Rhode Island Hospital with gunshot wounds, one of them was in critical condition. Six required intensive care but did not worsen, and two were in stable condition, hospital spokeswoman Kelly Brennan said.
When the shooting occurred in Barus, engineering and design reviews were taking place. & The Holley Building, a seven-story complex housing the Engineering Department and the Physics Department. According to the university website, the building houses more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices.
Emma Ferraro, a chemistry student, was working in the building's lobby on her final project when she heard loud bangs coming from the east side. As soon as she realized there were gunshots, she rushed to the door and ran to a nearby building, where she took refuge for several hours.
Eva EricksonThe doctoral student, who came in second place earlier this year on the CBS reality show “Survivor,” said she left her lab in the engineering building 15 minutes before shots were fired.
The engineering and thermal engineering student shared her candid moments on Survivor as the show's first openly autistic contestant. She was locked in a campus gym after the shooting and said on social media that the only member of her lab present was safely evacuated.
Brown biochemistry senior Alex Bruce was working on his latest research project in his dorm just across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside.
“I’m just shaking here,” he said, watching out the window as armed officers surrounded his dorm.
Students in a nearby lab turned off the lights and hid under their desks after being alerted to the shooting, said Chiangheng Chien, an engineering doctoral student who was about a block from the scene.
Marie Camara, 20, a junior from New York, was leaving the library and rushed into the taqueria for shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting friends while police searched the campus.
“Everyone is just like me, shocked and scared that something like this happened,” she said.
Brown, the seventh oldest institution of higher education in the United States, is one of the most prestigious colleges in the country, with approximately 7,300 undergraduate and more than 3,000 graduate students. Tuition, housing and other expenses total nearly $100,000 a year, according to the university.
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Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Mike Balsamo and Seung Min Kim in Washington, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City, Jack Durat in Bismarck, North Dakota, Martha Bellisle in Seattle and John Seaver in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.
