PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Authorities knocked on doors Monday and scoured yards looking for video or other evidence that would lead them to the Brown University gunman, whose face was covered or not visible in footage taken before and after the weekend attack that killed two students and injured nine others.
Officials released three new videos of the man they say carried out Saturday’s attack, showing him wearing a mask and a dark two-tone jacket. Although his face was not visible, footage from about two hours before the shooting provided the clearest images of the suspect yet.
The FBI said the man is approximately 173 centimeters tall and has a stocky build. The agency offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person responsible.
“We are asking for the public’s help,” Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez said at a news conference, urging people who might recognize the suspect to call a tip line.
Police renewed their search after releasing a person of interest on Sunday after determining the evidence pointed elsewhere. Meanwhile, details began to emerge about it the students who were shot.
The lockdown order for the Ivy League school was lifted on Sunday after authorities said they had apprehended the person of interest. But hopes for a quick resolution were dashed when they announced hours later that they had released him.
The abrupt change in direction marked a setback in the investigation as it raised questions about campus security, the apparent lack of evidence in school videos and whether the focus on the person in question gave the attacker more time to escape.
Colin Moussette, who has friends at Brown and is considering enrolling next fall, said during a visit to campus Monday that he felt uneasy knowing the suspect had not been caught.
“How someone escaped, like in the middle of the day, to me is not only heartbreaking but also very concerning,” he said. “The way they gained access to the building is concerning.”
A new video appears
Ahead of Monday’s news conference, police released a second video showing someone dressed in black walking down a city street minutes after the shooting. The video, as released the day of the shooting, did not show the suspect’s face.
In a neighborhood near the university, a line of officers scraped their feet through a snow-covered yard looking for evidence. Meanwhile, officers identifying themselves as U.S. marshals asked locals if they had security cameras.
Attorney General Peter Neronha, who said on Sunday that there were not many cameras at the scene of the attack, said on Monday that investigators were making “steady progress”.
Law enforcement officials appeared to still be conducting basic investigative tasks Monday, including tracking the suspect’s movements in the minutes after the attack and searching for evidence near the crime scene.
“I was really happy to see that they were doing something,” said Katherine Baima, who lives nearby. “This is the first time that any of us in my building, that I know of, have heard from anyone. We had received no warnings and we were really surprised that no one had looked, let alone knocked on doors, the first night.”
One of the dead was active in the church. The other overcame health problems
The shooting took place in an auditorium-style classroom, where students in a study group were preparing for an upcoming exam.
Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore who was vice president of the Brown College Republicans and beloved at her church in Birmingham, Alabama, was among the students killed, according to her pastor at home.
In announcing her death Sunday, the Rev. R. Craig Smalley described Cook as “an incredibly grounded, faithful, bright light” who encouraged and “uplifted” those around her.
“Ella was known for her brave, courageous and kind heart as she served her chapter and her fellow classmates,” Martin Bertao, the club’s president, said in a post on X.
The other student killed was MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman majoring in biochemistry and neuroscience. He was helping a friend during a review session for an economics exam when he was shot, his sister said.
As a child, Umurzokov suffered from a neurological condition that required surgery, and later wore a back brace because of scoliosis, Samira Umurzokova said, noting that the family emigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan when she, her brother and sister were young.
“He’s had so many hardships in his life, and he went to this great school and tried so hard to fulfill the promise he made when he was 7 years old,” she told the AP by phone Monday.
Only one of the nine injured had been released Sunday, Brown President Christina Paxson said. One was in critical condition and the other seven were in critical but stable condition. Mayor Brett Smiley said Monday evening that none of their conditions had worsened, but that he had no further information.
Durham Academy, a private elementary school in Durham, North Carolina, confirmed that Kendall Turner, a recent graduate, was seriously injured and that her parents were with her. “Our school community stands with Kendall, her classmates and her loved ones,” the school said in a statement.
Another injured student, 18-year-old freshman Spencer Yang of New York City, said the New York Times and the Brown Daily Herald from a hospital bed that a frenzied struggle ensued after the gunman entered the room where he and the other students were studying for final exams. Many students ran to the front of the room, but Yang said he landed on the floor between some chairs and was shot in the leg.
Yang, who expects to be discharged in the coming days, said he tried to keep some of the more seriously injured students conscious until police arrived.
Questions are asked about campus security
Brown was no longer in lockdown and the city’s schools were open Monday. But some colleges and universities, including in Rhode Island and some Ivy League schools, increased security in light of the attack. Yale said there would be extra security for Hanukkah celebrations.
The shooting occurred while graduation was in progress at Brown, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious schools.
Investigators did not immediately know how the shooter entered the first-floor classroom.
The attack caused hours of chaos on campus and in surrounding neighborhoods as hundreds of officers searched for the shooter.
Li Ding, a student at the Rhode Island School of Design who is on a dance team at Brown, was upset that there wasn’t better security on campus.
“The fact that we are in this state of surveillance, but it was not used properly at all, is so deeply frustrating,” Ding said.
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