Providence, Rhode Island — Hundreds of police officers were combing the Brown University campus and surrounding neighborhoods and examining videos looking for the shooter who opened fire. They opened fire in a classroomAs a result, two people were killed and nine others were injured.
The search extended until late into the night, after a long time Shooting broke out 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, who was wearing black, calmly walking away from the scene. His face is not visible and investigators said it is not clear if the suspect is a student.
Providence Deputy Police Chief Timothy O’Hara said the suspect was last seen leaving the engineering building, and some witnesses told police the suspect, who may be in his 30s, may have been wearing a camouflage mask.
University President Christina Paxson said she learned that 10 people who were shot were students. She added that another person was injured by shrapnel from the gunfire, but it was not clear whether the victim was a student.
Find the shooter It paralyzed the campusThe surrounding neighborhoods are filled with stately brick homes and the city center is the capital of Rhode Island. The streets, usually bustling with activity on weekends, were eerily quiet.
Students sheltered in place for hours into the night. Officers wearing tactical gear escorted students from some campus buildings to a fitness center where they waited. Others arrived at the shelter on buses without jackets or any belongings.
Investigators did not immediately know how the shooter got into the first-floor classroom. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said the building’s exterior doors were locked but rooms used for final exams required badge access.
He encouraged people who live near campus to stay inside or not return home until the shelter-in-place 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 gun, according to a law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Democratic Governor Dan McKee pledged to deploy all resources to arrest the suspect. Rhode Island has some of the strictest gun laws in the United States
Nine people with gunshot wounds were taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where one was in critical condition. Hospital spokeswoman Kelly Brennan said that six of them needed intensive care, but their condition was not worsening, while two were in stable condition.
Engineering design tests were underway when the shooting occurred on Paros & The Holly Building, a seven-story complex housing the College of Engineering and the Department of Physics. The building includes more than 100 laboratories and dozens of classrooms and offices, according to the university’s website.
Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the building’s lobby working on a final project when she heard loud popping noises coming from the east side. Once she realized they were gunshots, she bolted for the door and ran to a nearby building where she took shelter for several hours.
Eva ErikssonThe doctoral candidate, who was runner-up earlier this year on the CBS reality competition show “Survivor,” said she left her lab in the engineering building 15 minutes before the shots rang out.
The engineering and thermal sciences student shared candid moments on “Survivor” as the show’s first openly autistic contestant. She was locked in a campus gym after the shooting, and shared on social media that the only other member of her lab who was present had been safely evacuated.
Alex Bruce, a biochemistry student at Brown University, was working on a final research project in his dorm directly across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside.
“I’m here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as armed officers surrounded his residence.
Qianheng Chen, an engineering doctoral student who was a block away from the scene, said students in a nearby lab turned off the lights and hid under desks after receiving an alert about the shooting.
Mary Camara, 20, a third-year student from New York City, was exiting the library and running inside a taqueria to seek shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting friends while police searched the campus.
“Everyone, like me, is shocked and terrified that something like this could happen,” she said.
Brown University, the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, is one of the nation’s most prestigious colleges with approximately 7,300 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate students. Tuition, housing and other fees amount to approximately $100,000 annually, according to the university.
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Associated Press journalists Alana Durkin Richer, Mike Balsamo and Seung-Min Kim in Washington, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City, Jack Dora in Bismarck, North Dakota, Martha Belisle in Seattle, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.