Politics
JUST IN: New Video Of Brown University Shooting Suspect Emerges
Investigators have released a new video of the suspect in the Brown University shooting just hours after a person of interest was released after officials said “new evidence” pointed them in a new direction.
The new video shows a person — believed to be a male — wearing dark clothing walking along a tree line, behind a row of parked cars. It is quite hard to see the suspect given shadows from the trees and a face is not clearly visible.
The suspect appears to be walking along Waterman Avenue, which runs through and adjacent to the Brown University Campus, about 20 minutes before the gunfire erupted around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“We are sharing a video of a person of interest and plan to release additional video as part of the ongoing investigation,” the Providence Police Department posted on X. The department asked anyone who recognized the individual to call 401-272-3121 or submit a tip online at fbi.gov/brownuniversityshooting.
The manhunt for the shooter involves more than 400 personnel from various state and federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI. Investigators were seen questioning home owners and combing an area where an item may have been left behind by the shooter.
Police initially apprehended a person of interest in the case at a hotel located about 30 miles north of Providence early Sunday morning, where they recovered two firearms, one of which matched the description of the weapon used in the shooting. That person was ultimately released late Sunday night after “new evidence” pointed investigators in a different direction, however.
“The person of interest detained in connection with the fatal mass shooting at Brown University is being released without charges,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said during a press conference.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha explained that new details pointed investigators in a different direction. “There had been evidence pointing to this individual, but that evidence now points in a different direction,” he said.
“I’ve been around long enough to know that sometimes you head in one direction and then you have to regroup and go in another and that’s exactly what has happened over the last 24 hours or so.”
The gunman, described as a male dressed in black and potentially armed with a rifle, fled the scene on foot. Surveillance footage captured an individual in dark clothing, including a hood, walking north along Hope Street and Waterman Street with a hand in a jacket pocket. That video, and the new video released this morning, are the only images of the suspect released to the public.
Authorities have also not provided any information on the suspect’s identity or motive as of Monday afternoon.
Footage shows the currently unidentified suspect fleeing the scene of the shooting
Ella Cook, a sophomore who served as vice president of the university’s Republican Club, was identified as one of the fatalities by a priest from her Alabama parish on Sunday morning. Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, a native of Uzbekistan and aspiring neurosurgeon, has been identified as the other slain victim.
An additional nine people suffered gunshot wounds, one of whom remains hospitalized in critical condition as of a Monday afternoon update reported by the Providence Journal. An additional six victims remain hospitalized in critical but stable condition, one is in stable condition and another was previously discharged.
