US officials have identified a suspect in the Brown University mass shooting that left two students dead and several injured, media reports say.
PROVIDENCE: US officials have identified a suspect in the shooting at Brown University that killed two students and injured several others.
CNN cited two unnamed law enforcement officials familiar with the case as saying investigators believe they have pinpointed a suspect, with CBS News reporting similar information.
The shooting occurred on Saturday when a man with a rifle entered a campus building at the Ivy League college where students were taking exams.
He opened fire, killing two students before fleeing the scene.
Investigators had previously released images of a person of interest and another individual seen near them in an effort to trace those involved.
Officials providing daily updates had voiced increasing frustration with the so far fruitless manhunt.
The two students killed were Ella Cook, vice president of Brown’s Republican Party association, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an aspiring neurosurgeon from Uzbekistan.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said one survivor was in critical but stable condition, five were in stable condition, and two had been discharged from hospital.
Authorities initially detained a man in connection with the shooting but later released him.
The university has faced questions about its security after it emerged none of its 1,200 security cameras were linked to the police surveillance system.
There have been more than 300 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Attempts to restrict access to firearms continue to face political deadlock. – AFP
