At least two people were killed and nine others were injured in a shooting at Brown University on Saturday afternoon, officials said, spreading terror across campus as students sat for their final exams.
The shooter — a male dressed in black who opened fire inside an engineering building — remains at large, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley (D) said at an evening news conference.
The investigation is ongoing and the information on casualties may change, Smiley added. The shooter’s motivation remains unclear, Providence Deputy Police Chief Timothy O’Hara told reporters.
Seven of the injured victims are in critical condition, six of whom are stable, Rhode Island Hospital said in a statement. An eighth victim is in stable condition, and a ninth has injuries not considered to be life-threatening.
Smiley urged everyone in the vicinity of the Brown campus to shelter in place as law enforcement personnel mount a search for the gunman. About 400 law enforcement officers have been dispatched to the campus and surrounding neighborhood, he said.
“Every minute matters,” the mayor said, adding that officers are “out on the streets working hard to bring this individual to justice.”
Police moved some students to reunification centers on Saturday evening, and those remaining in lockdown were advised to wait until authorities could escort them back to their dorms.
“Sadly, today is a day the city of Providence and the state of Rhode Island prayed would never come,” Smiley said. “We’ve heard about horrific acts of gun violence and active shooter situations in other places, but not here.”
The shooting marks a fresh outburst of gun violence on U.S. college campuses, which have been the scenes of some of the deadliest mass killings in the country’s history, as well as a steady drumbeat of smaller but no less tragic attacks.
In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the shooting and the FBI was on the scene.
Vice President JD Vance also said he was monitoring the situation. “Terrible news out of Rhode Island this evening,” he wrote in a post on X. “We’re thinking of and praying for the victims.”
Christina Paxson, Brown’s president, mourned a “deeply tragic day” for the university and urged students to remain vigilant with the gunman still at large. The campus remained on lockdown as of 10:30 p.m. She said she believed two of those killed and at least eight of the injured were Brown students, although authorities said that was not yet confirmed.
The first 911 call on Saturday came in at 4:05 p.m., officials said, and the shooting took place at the Barus and Holley engineering and physics building, which contains laboratories and classrooms. Police searched the building but did not locate the gunman, whom they described only as a male dressed in black.
The gunman was last seen exiting the east side of the building, where Brown’s campus meets downtown Providence. The FBI, ATF, the Rhode Island State Police, Providence police and campus security are all engaged in the manhunt.
Police have received some tips about the potential suspect and authorities are combing through video footage on and off campus to search for the shooter. Police shared one video clip on Saturday evening showing what they believe is the suspect, dressed in all dark colors and wearing a hood or hat, turning a street corner after exiting a building. But the individual’s face and weapon are not shown.
The engineering building is a popular place for students to focus on their classwork. On Saturday afternoon, students had gathered there for study groups and to sit for exams. The university’s examination period began Friday.
Max McCord, a junior at Brown from Pittsburgh, called his girlfriend at 4:13 p.m. Two minutes later, he told The Washington Post, she called him back and told him her younger brother, a freshman, had been shot in the thigh.
Her brother had been at a study session for an introductory economics course in auditorium 166 in Barus and Holley and was in the hospital but was okay, McCord said. At the same moment, McCord’s roommate burst in, out of breath, and said he had left the building about 4 p.m. because he had heard shots.
On Saturday night, McCord was locked down in his dorm room with his roommate, barricaded and with the blinds down. An early report that a gunman had been apprehended — later proved false — had added to the fear and uncertainty across campus. “It’s very confusing for everyone,” he said.
At the university’s science library, a block away from the area of the shooting, video provided by a student showed police officers in tactical gear and carrying weapons weaving their way through tables covered with laptops and textbooks. “Everybody okay?” one officer asked. “No injuries?”
Teddy Fisher, a senior at Brown from the D.C. area, was studying in the basement of the university’s science library when he got a text from a classmate at 4:15 p.m. alerting him to reports of a shooting.
He went up to the library’s lobby with a friend and saw police cars lining the street next to the building. Fisher returned to shelter in the basement and waited for police.
When law enforcement arrived, they cleared each of the library’s 14 upper floors, Fisher said, bringing students down to the basement. “We didn’t know what to think,” he said.
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