Law enforcement officials in Providence, R.I., said late Sunday that they were releasing a person of interest they had detained in relation to the shooting at Brown University and continuing their search for the person who killed two people Saturday afternoon.
“We know that this is likely to cause fresh anxiety for our community, and we want to reiterate what we said earlier, which remains true,” Mayor Brett Smiley of Providence said at the news conference. “We have not received any credible or specific threats to the Providence community.”
The news was a sharp reversal from early Sunday, when city and law enforcement officials announced they had detained an unnamed person of interest in the shooting and were not seeking any other suspects.
“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,” said Attorney General Peter F. Neronha of Rhode Island.
Asked if officials knew whether the gunman was even still in the state or the Providence community, Mayor Smiley said “We have no way of knowing.”
Officials said they were desperately seeking any video and photographic evidence from the public to build out further leads.
“There just weren’t a lot of cameras in that Brown building,” Mr. Neronha said, referring to the engineering building where the shooting took place. He added that “we’re not holding back video that we think would be useful, and I don’t think I should even have to say it.”
Mr. Neronha declined to offer any further information on what evidence emerged that had changed the investigation, which now includes a host of local, state and federal agencies.
“Obviously we have a murderer out there, he said.“So we’re not going to give away the game plan.”
Ali Watkins covers international news for The Times and is based in Belfast.
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