After the mass shooting at Brown University that left two students dead and nine others injured, students left campus in droves, including one Chicagoan who is grateful to be with family again but left with a life-changing tragedy.
Freshman Amelie Devine recalled what she felt Saturday afternoon, when she was just two blocks from the engineering building when the deadly shooting unfolded.
“I put on my jacket and my phone started blowing up,” she said. “I was alone in my room. It was scary and isolating.”
Devine said some of her closest friends were in the building when shots rang out.
“I’m alive, I didn’t get shot three times in the leg like my best friend did, and I count myself lucky, as lucky as can be,” she said. “When you think about someone walking into a student room with an automatic weapon and pointing a gun at dozens of people. That’s absolutely horrifying.’
Devine and other Brown University students returned home to the Chicago area after the shooting, including the three children of alumna Giovanna Cavallo. Her daughters, Natalie and Allison, are seniors, and her son, Nicholas, is a freshman.
Natalie and Nicholas are both studying engineering.
“Natalie is a computer engineer, she actually lives in that building, especially around finals, so she probably would have gone at some point yesterday to work on a final project in Barus and Holley’s labs,” Cavallo told NBC Chicago on Sunday. ‘And my son is an electrical engineer. He’s there all the time.’
The person of interest taken into custody in connection with the mass shooting at Brown University will be released, authorities said. Courtney Sisk has the latest details.
Authorities released their first suspect on Sunday and have since stepped up efforts to find the gunman.
Images and video of a new person of interest were released Monday evening, with the FBI urging everyone to take a close look at the footage taken two hours before the shooting.
Authorities said the gunman moved through older parts of the campus and buildings with fewer cameras.
NBC Chicago spoke with Dr. Steven Meyers, professor of psychology at Roosevelt University in Chicago and a graduate of the Brown University class of 1990, who described the area.
“It’s not designed for the most technical monitoring because of the age of the buildings, the way they’re spread out, and it’s an open campus, gated,” he said. “I can imagine what it would be like to appreciate modern surveillance.”
Because authorities do not yet have a clear photo of the person in question’s face, the FBI is redoubling its efforts to find new images.
“We’re going to put handcuffs on someone,” Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said.
As they continue to process what happened, students like Devine hope their friends can heal, physically and mentally.
“It’s really hard to imagine that snow no longer stained with blood, or that campus without that tragedy, going back to class will be unsettling and unpleasant,” she said.
Devine said she hopes everyone focuses on the big picture and takes action.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “Don’t wait until it’s you.”
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