Police launch manhunt after 2 killed in a university shooting
A manhunt is underway after two students were killed and nine other people were injured in a shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island.
Officials say the gunman opened fire in a classroom at around on Sunday, December 14, 2025, at the Barus and Holley engineering building on the eastern end of the Ivy League university’s campus, where final exams were taking place.
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Officials from Rhode Island Hospital said most of the injured are in a “critical but stable” condition, and that the hospital is “in lockdown” while the suspect remains at large.
A shelter-in-place warning remains in place for the greater Brown University area.
The identities of those killed or injured have not yet been released by officials.
“This is a day that we hoped never would come to our community. It is deeply devastating for all of us,” said Brown University President Christina Paxson in a statement.
Police have released limited information about the person of interest. However, they have provided CCTV footage of him walking out of the building after the shooting.
Neither the person of interest’s face nor a weapon is visible in the video.
Providence Deputy Police Chief Tim O’Hara said the suspect is a male who was dressed all in black and appeared to be in his thirties.
“We’re utilising every resource possible to find this suspect,” he said.
Barus and Holley Engineering Building is a seven-story building that includes 117 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and three lecture halls.
An economics professor told local public media outlet Ocean State Radio that the shooting had taken place during a review session for her course, which was led by her teaching assistant.
“He said that the shooter came in the doors, yelled something – he couldn’t remember what he yelled – and started shooting,” Rachel Friedberg said.
“Students started to scramble to try to get away from the shooter, trying to get lower down in the stadium seating, and people got shot,” she added.
Officials cleared the building on Saturday afternoon but found neither the person of interest nor a weapon.
They said the gunman used a firearm, but did not have information about what kind.
Residents in the greater Brown University area have been told to stay at home and stay inside, or to stay away until the shelter-in-place is lifted.
In a statement, the university said law enforcement agencies would enter non-residential buildings to escort people to safe locations. Other people in residential buildings should continue to shelter in place.
Steph Machado, a reporter for the Boston Globe, told BBC News that restaurants around the campus have locked their doors with staff and customers waiting inside until the emergency order is lifted.
“There are flashing lights everywhere,” she said.
The scramble in the wake of the shooting by officials was clear as the university reported that a suspect had been taken into custody on Saturday, December 13, 2025, afternoon before retracting the information shortly after.
