A gunman killed two people and wounded nine at Brown University, prompting a major police manhunt and campus lockdown in Providence, Rhode Island
PROVIDENCE: A gunman killed two people and wounded nine others in a shooting at Brown University on Saturday.
The attack plunged the Ivy League campus into lockdown as hundreds of police officers hunted for the suspect late into the night.
Streets around the university in Rhode Island were filled with emergency vehicles hours after gunfire erupted in a building where exams were taking place.
Witness Katie Sun told the Brown Daily Herald she was studying nearby when she heard the shots.
“It was honestly quite terrifying. The shots seemed like they were coming from… where the classrooms are,” she said.
Six hours after the shooting, the gunman remained at large as some 400 police officers swarmed the campus.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley confirmed two fatalities and said eight others were in critical but stable condition.
Authorities later said a ninth person who “received fragments from the shooting” was taken to hospital.
Police released footage of the suspect, described as a man dressed all in black, walking briskly down a deserted street.
University officials stressed the campus was still in lockdown as midnight approached.
Brown University President Christina Paxson said ten of the eleven victims were students.
“My heart breaks for the students who were looking forward to a holiday break and instead are dealing with another horrifying mass shooting,” Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse posted on X.
The shooting occurred at the Barus and Holley building, which houses the engineering and physics departments.
Two exams had been scheduled in the building at the time of the attack.
Deputy Police Chief Timothy O’Hara urged people to avoid the area and comply with the shelter-in-place order.
The gunman was last seen leaving the building, and no weapon had been recovered.
Brown sent an emergency alert at 4.22pm reporting “an active shooter near Barus and Holley Engineering.”
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Law enforcement and first responders swarmed the scene, with local news reporting clothing and blood on the sidewalk.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau was providing “all capabilities necessary.”
US President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the shooting.
“What a terrible thing it is,” he said. “All we can do right now is pray for the victims.”
The shooting is the latest in a long line of school attacks in the United States.
The deadliest school shooting in US history took place at Virginia Tech in 2007, when a student killed 32 people. – AFP
