Providence, Rhode Island — Brown University is accused in lawsuits from three students who were injured in December 13 campus shooting That the Ivy League school ignored previous warnings about the shooter and did not provide adequate security that could have prevented the tragedy.
The lawsuits, filed last week in Rhode Island Supreme Court, allege that the unnamed plaintiffs suffered because Brown failed to maintain “reasonable and appropriate security measures.”
“As a direct and proximate result of Brown’s negligent acts described above, Plaintiff suffered and sustained severe and serious personal injuries, causing Plaintiff to suffer severe body, mind, nerve and nervous system pain,” one lawsuit states.
The names of the plaintiffs behind the lawsuits have not been revealed.
A Brown University spokesperson said they are reviewing complaints “carefully and expeditiously.”
“Out of respect for the privacy interests of the plaintiffs, we do not have any details to share about the merits of the lawsuit at this time,” company spokesman Brian Clark said in a statement.
According to law enforcement, gunman Claudio Nieves Valente, 48, entered a class session in an academic building at Brown on Dec. 13 and opened fire on students, killing 19-year-old sophomore Ella Cook and 18-year-old freshman Muhammed Aziz Omurzukov and wounding nine others.
Two days later, authorities said Nieves Valente, who was Graduate student at Brown He had been teaching physics for about 20 years, and also shot and killed an MIT professor Nuno F. J. Loureiro At Lourero’s home in the Boston area.
It was Nieves Valiente, who attended school with Loureiro in Portugal in the 1990s She was found dead days later At a New Hampshire storage facility. Authorities say he killed himself. An autopsy has been determined Nieves Valiente died on December 16, the same day Loureiro died in hospital.
The lawsuits allege that Brown’s campus security was alerted by a guard that Nieves Valiente was “covering” the building but the school did not investigate the reports.
Shortly after the shooting, the president of Brown University placed campus police on leave amid a review of the school’s security policies.
Much of the focus has focused on whether the Ivy League school had security cameras installed in the building where the attack occurred and overall ease of access to campus buildings.