Police have a person of interest in custody at Brown Univ. shooting which left 2 dead and 9 injured

Col. Oscar Perez, Providence police chief, confirmed at a news conference that the person arrested was in their 30s and that authorities were not currently looking for anyone else. He declined to say whether the person was connected to the university.

Separately, an FBI agent said the arrest took place at a Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry, about 20 miles from Providence. The police remained on scene, with police tape blocking a corridor.

The shooting broke out Saturday afternoon in the engineering building of the Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island, during final exams. Hundreds of police officers had scoured the Brown University campus and nearby neighborhoods and watched videos in pursuit of a shooter who opened fire in a classroom.

Armed with a handgun, the shooter fired more than 40 9 mm bullets, according to a law enforcement official. As of Sunday morning, authorities had not recovered a gun but did recover two loaded 30-round magazines, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

University officials on Sunday canceled all classes, exams, assignments and projects for the remainder of the fall semester and said students were free to leave. Those who remain on campus will have access to services and supports, Dean Francis Doyle said in a statement.

“At this time, it is critical that we focus our efforts on providing care and support to members of our community as we grapple with the grief, fear and anxiety that are affecting us all at this time,” Doyle wrote.

Providence leaders warned that residents would notice a larger police presence on Sunday. Many local businesses announced they would remain closed and expressed shock and grief as the community continued to digest news of the shooting.

“Everyone is in shock and we have a long time to go to recover,” Christina Paxson, president of Brown University, said at the news conference. “Our community is strong and we will get through this, but this is devastating. »

Surveillance video released by police shows a suspect, dressed in black, calmly walking away from the scene.

Earlier, Paxson said he was told 10 people shot were students. Another person was injured by fragments from the shooting, but it was not clear whether the victim was a student, she said.

The search for the shooter paralyzed the campus, nearby neighborhoods filled with stately brick homes and downtown Rhode Island’s capital until a shelter-in-place order was lifted early Sunday. The normally bustling streets on weekends were eerily quiet. Officers in tactical gear led the students out of some campus buildings and into a fitness center where they were waiting. Others arrived at the shelter in buses without jackets or personal belongings.

The mayor advised people to stay home

Investigators weren’t sure how the shooter got into the first-floor classroom. The building’s exterior doors were unlocked, but rooms used for final exams required badge access, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said.

Smiley got emotional when discussing the city’s efforts to prepare for a mass shooting.

“We all knew, intellectually, that this could happen anywhere, including here, but that’s not the same as this happening in our community, and so this is an incredibly upsetting and emotional time for Providence, for Brown, for all of us,” he said. “It’s not something we should be training for, but we did it.”

Nine people with gunshot wounds were taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where one was in critical condition. Six required intensive care but their condition did not worsen and two were stable, hospital spokeswoman Kelly Brennan said.

Examinations were underway during filming

Engineering design reviews were underway when the shooting occurred in the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the school of engineering and the physics department. The building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices, according to the university’s website.

Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the lobby of the building working on a final project when she heard loud noises coming from the east side. When she realized it was gunshots, she rushed out the door and ran to a nearby building where she took shelter for several hours.

The former ‘Survivor’ contestant just left the building

Eva Erickson, a doctoral student and finalist earlier this year on the CBS reality show “Survivor,” said she left her lab in the engineering building 15 minutes before gunfire 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 the campus gym after the shooting and shared on social media that the only other member of her lab present had been safely evacuated.

Alex Bruce, a senior biochemistry student at Brown, was working on a final research project in his dorm room directly across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside.

“I’m just here, shaking,” he said, looking out the window as armed police surrounded his dormitory.

The students hid under the desks

Students at a nearby lab turned off the lights and hid under their desks after receiving an alert about the shooting, said Chiangheng Chien, an engineering doctoral student who was about a block from the scene.

Mari Camara, 20, a young woman from New York, was leaving the library and ran into a taqueria to seek shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting her friends while police searched the campus.

“Everyone is like me, shocked and terrified that something like this would happen,” she said.

Brown, the seventh oldest institution of higher education in the United States, is one of the most prestigious colleges in the country, with approximately 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students. Tuition, housing and other costs total nearly $100,000 a year, according to the university.