At 4:05 p.m. terror struck Brown University in Rhode Island inside the Barus and Holley Engineering building during exam week. Students were in the middle of an exam when gunshots echoed through the building. The whole school went under lock down.
Two students were sadfully left dead while nine others were injured. Authorities identified the victims as the vice president of the Brown Republicans student group Ella Crook. MuhammadAziz Umurzakow, an international student form Uzbekistan was also killed. There were eight injured that were brown students and several of them are remaining in critical conditions but are remaining stable at the local hospitals.
A manhunt took place immediately and Brown students were warned to silence their phones and hide in a safe place. Police detained one person of interest initially at a hotel in Coventry but released him later after removing him as a possible suspect. The gunman still remains unknown and investigators are urging the public to release any videos or photos of the incident to help them find the gunman.
The shelter-in-place has been lifted from the university with Mayor Brett Smiley explaining “We are not recommending at this time a new shelter-in-place. We do not feel it is necessary,” Smiley said.”
The police chief Oscar Perez states the incident was “An unprecedented tragedy.”
Brown university has canceled the rest of the fall semester exams and classes before break and closed the campus to insure safety for its students. There have also been many vigils organized by student groups to help students as they work through this hard time. For many students this was their second school shooting in their lifetime which is heart breaking to hear.
The incident strikes further public debates over campus safety and gun control. Many urge for a change to stop these tragedies from happening over and over.
