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Two Students Killed, Nine Injured In Brown University Shooting. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired December 13, 2025 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
GOV. DAN MCKEE (D), RHODE ISLAND: -- that have students there, people on campus.
[21:00:04]
But how about all over the country? All over the world? We are a small and mighty state, but this becomes a worldwide event because of the nature of the student base and the population that's at Brown University.
JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Goes all around the world. And certainly, an event like today changes people's lives forever. In an instant.
Governor Dan McKee, thank you very much. We wish you all the best in this. And we really appreciate your time.
MCKEE: Well, thank you for having me on. And again, if somebody has any information we would like to hear it. And also, let's make sure that were praying for those who are -- have suffered this loss.
DEAN: Well, we certainly will. Governor, thank you very much.
And a new hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
(MUSIC)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
DEAN: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York. It is 9:00 on the East Coast.
And we are continuing to follow breaking news tonight out of Providence, Rhode Island, where officials say two people are dead, eight more are injured after a shooting on Brown University's campus.
Students are continuing to shelter in place at this hour. We do have some video that we have obtained from a freshman student captured as she was evacuating one of the buildings. Here's that video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's come on, guys. Come on. Did you hear anything or see anything?
UNDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go outside. Come, go, go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Such a terrible night for people in Providence, Rhode Island. For those students on Brown University's campus who are enduring the aftermath of a mass shooting there on their campus. Again, many of them still sheltering in place, their parents, their loved ones trying to get updates, the community around them still being told to shelter in place. Law enforcement still searching for a suspect. All we know is that this person is dressed in all black and a male.
Here's what officials said just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF OSCAR L. PEREZ, JR., PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND POLICE: Earlier this afternoon, when we received the call for an active shooter inside a building inside Brown University, our officers responded. And as they're trained to do, entered that building immediately and began searching for a suspect.
They did a systematic search of the building. However, no suspect was located at that time. They were able to clear that building and provide a safe place for all of students and faculty and workers that were in that building to meet at, preliminarily. All we have is a suspect that was a male dressed in black.
It is unknown how he entered the building, but we do know that he exited the Hope Street side of that complex. It's -- we're utilizing every resource possible to find this suspect. The shelter in place is in order, and I urge people to take that very seriously.
Please do not come to the area. Is an active police investigation going on? And there's a lot of police activity. Weve got assistance so far from some surrounding communities. The state police, the Cranston police, East Providence police, as well as our federal partners and the FBI and the ATF that we're talking to -- we're talking to witnesses at this time and delving into any video that's in the area. And the investigation is very active and ongoing.
We'll be updating you on, sir, I'm sure, throughout the night. But as I said right now, there is no suspect that is under arrest. So please stay out of the area. Thank you.
MAYOR BRETT SMILEY, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: We'll take questions at the end. Well take questions at the end. We have a few more speakers, please.
Next to Fire Chief Derek Silva.
FIRE CHIEF DEREK SILVA, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND FIRE DEPARTMENT: Derek Silva, fire chief of the city of Providence. As mentioned previously, at 4:05 p.m., we were dispatched to the area of Waterman and Thayer for an active shooter incident where our firefighters, known as a rescue task force, linked up with Providence police with two operational locations at Waterman and Thayer and Waterman and Hope rescue task force is a firefighter that wears body armor and has ability to stop any shooting wounds and make sure that any victims are extricated quickly.
With the assistance of police in neighboring cities and towns, eight people were transported, as the mayor mentioned, critical but stable condition, and two, unfortunately, were dead on arrival. We have a total of ten victims. But as I caution everyone, this is a developing incident, and we are still actively searching the buildings, along with Providence police, to make sure that everyone has gone home safe and that there are no one else that needs our assistance. Thank you.
SMILEY: Thank you, Chief.
And then last, we'll hear from the provost of Brown University, Frank Doyle.
FRANCIS J. DOYLE III, BROWN UNIVERSITY PROVOST: Thank you. Mayor.
I'm Frank Doyle, provost at Brown University.
I want to reiterate, this is an evolving situation, as you've heard multiple times.
[21:05:03]
Our first priority is the safety of our academic community, the campus community, and coordinating closely with law enforcement and medical services. In the meantime, we continue to direct our community to shelter in place in the greater vicinity of the campus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: All right. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is joining us now, who -- she's been following, kind of the nuts and bolts of this story as its evolved throughout the night.
Julia, I want to note, we are expecting a news conference in about 25 minutes, 9:30 is when we are expecting to hear from officials again. The governor of Rhode Island just telling me that we should expect to hear more about this shelter in place order, because we still don't know how long people will be asked to do this.
What do we know right now?
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is a great question. And it is about finding that suspect or suspects, which authorities have made clear that they don't know if this is one person or perhaps more than one. What they do know about this man is a man who was wearing full black clothing and who was in this building Barus and Holley, the school of engineering. At around 4:05 p.m. the last time they said they saw the suspect was leaving that building through a street facing exit of the building on Hope Street.
So, this again, this is a building that's kind of at the edge of campus on the east west axis of the campus, if you look at it that way, that goes into a regular neighborhood, Jessica.
So, this person could be anywhere. Now, again, this is preliminary information. We're hoping that well hear more about this suspect also in the search for the suspect in the next 25 minutes when we have this press conference. They said that last sighting was based on eyewitness -- eyewitnesses who saw this man exiting that building.
This is a building that does require a card swipe to go in. But at that, at that time throughout today, as many multiple tests were taking place, final tests taking place in that building, it is likely that that person was able to go in without having to swipe a card to get in, to get access to that building.
It is also unclear at this point, Jessica, what kind of firearm this person used, if this was a handgun, if this was a long gun. We still don't know. Authorities said that this is all the information that they could share at this time.
Of course, now Providence swarmed with law enforcement. At this time, we have both the -- from Brown University police to the FBI and the ATF on scene. Now, right now we are seeing images of those students going to a reunification center. And we're hearing starting to hear from our affiliates on the ground on what those families are looking for.
They're being asked, what did they see? Did they see anything as they're being cleared from each building and going into other places to shelter in place as police is making their rounds? Building by building, room by room, asking, did you see anything? Have you seen anything suspicious? And then searching those students as they move along.
Also those businesses and homes that have any kinds of cameras, ring cameras, security footage. Authorities also asking for any of that footage that could be of interest for this investigation, for people to please share with authorities at this time -- Jessica.
DEAN: Yeah, this is certainly very much happening now.
Julia Vargas Jones with the latest, thank you for that.
Let's bring in CNNs senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem.
Juliette, again, we are waiting for this 9:30 p.m. presser in about 20 minutes or so. I talked to the mayor earlier. He had committed to doing this, and he said, look, we hope to have new. The goal is to have some have some sort of new information when we talk again.
What are you going to be looking for when we hear from authorities again in about 20 minutes or so?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Two major things. I mean, obviously we care most about the victims and ensuring that and hoping that those that are harmed are feel better. But on the law enforcement side, there's two key things. One is just more information about how the shooter is the way that we're hearing it described. 4:00 the sun is still out. Lots of students together. We haven't seen any images. We don't even know the race of the person where they mask was. The face covered, or are these things being kept from the public because they have identified who it is, and they are trying to find this person?
If they haven't found this person, they're going to have to start to disclose some of these facial features, including race. I mean, we just simply have no idea of who the pool, what the pool is of those that that might be considered. So that's the first piece.
The second is to the point we've been raising last hour and a half. This is the shelter in place thing. And active shooter is one of the hardest balancing acts in public safety. And unfortunately, we have a lot of practice on this.
You can't keep a community locked down if your standard is what we have to find the guy, because we may not be able to find him immediately.
[21:10:01]
So I do think that were going to begin to get some information about, you know, when they will release the shelter in place, how they will escort students, what kind of security is going to be on campus? Remember, these are 18-plus year olds. Their parents are still engaged in in their safety. Lots of parents are probably calling -- parents from the east coast are probably driving there or planning on picking up their kids since its almost the holidays.
So, the university is going to have to make assurances about the safety of the community if they do not find him tonight or early tomorrow.
DEAN: Certainly.
Over the last, as you know, this this happened now about five hours ago. Over those last five hours, I've talked to a number of students and people who were there either in the building or nearby. And this is kind of what they've drawn out for us.
We have been told by eyewitnesses that they were inside this building. You could go in or out. Those doors were unlocked. As we noted, the sun was up. It was still -- I mean, obviously it's getting darker or lighter, but or darker earlier.
But people could go in and out of that building. It was not restricted. It's around 4:00 p.m. this one young woman I spoke to ran out on the backside of the building. She said she called police around 4:04, and she said within a minute of her, you know, getting out of there that the campus police were there. And then very shortly thereafter, additional police were there.
So they did respond quite quickly. According to these eyewitnesses. And yet this suspect was able to kind of just get away and get into the wind. What do you make of all of that?
KAYYEM: Yeah. There's -- so first, of course, the suspects access. Does he look like a student? Was he pretending to be like a student?
I am at a university. I know Brown University. I'm not quite getting the sort of. There was. No. We keep hearing from people. Well, there was no swiping or no protections on the door because it was finals.
Either, there's protections on those doors or there's not protections on the doors. So I would like we should get some clarity on that. But if you look like a student, look like he was going to take an exam.
The second thing is, of course, understanding the, the building and the classrooms. There are classrooms in that building that are like atrium like sort of audience halls, like sort of Greek theaters where someone could come in from the top. And they might not be noticed if they start shooting. The students then respond by exiting through other doors. So, there's a number of issues that I have on, on that.
On the backside, of course, is did he, did the did the shooter pretend like he was part of the crowd on the way out? Remember, you have got a lot of chaos at this stage. Students don't know what's going on. And he might if he's young or looks like a student, all it takes is a is a backpack. Honestly. And a sweatshirt. He might have been able to get at least far enough off campus, to walk off. And then if there was a car available, or if he tried to steal a car.
So, these are the -- these, look, were still a couple hours away. The most important thing right now is, is finding him. I mean, because we don't know what his strategy is now you know, is it is he is he gone? Is he going to harm others? Is he has he committed suicide, as we've seen in other cases? These are all questions that that one hopes for the community. But for all of us that get answered soon.
DEAN: And quickly, right. All right, Juliette, thank you very, very much. We appreciate it.
We are waiting for that update from officials in Providence right now just to underscore what we do know, two people are dead, eight others wounded. Officials said that number could potentially go up again when they gave their last press conference. They were still going through that building where this shooting happened around 4:00 this afternoon. We're going to have much more breaking news for you when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:18:31]
DEAN: Welcome back to our breaking news. Again, we're covering this school shooting that happened on Brown University's campus this afternoon, killing two people, injuring at least eight who are currently in the hospital. And now a massive manhunt underway to try to find the suspect. In this case, all we know is that police say it was a male dressed in black.
We're waiting to hear from authorities shortly. We're supposed to hear from them around 9:30. Sometimes those things slide, but we're going to keep an eye on that. Well, of course, bring it to you as it happens. Earlier today, I did speak with a Brown student named Katie Sun. She's
currently on lockdown in her dorm room. She was studying in that building when the shooting happened.
She was in a different part of the building when the shooting happened, and this is how she described it to me. That moment when she heard the gunshots
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATIE SUN, BROWN UNIVERSITY STUDENT, ON LOCKDOWN IN HER DORM: I was studying in Barus and Holley, which was which is the engineering building where I think the shooting happened. So, I was in the front area and I heard, multiple gunshots, like bangs coming from the back where the classrooms are. And I basically fled immediately. Me and the other people that were studying there.
DEAN: Yeah, that is so, so scary.
Okay. So, take us in again for just people that are at home who may be tuning in, what she's talking about is the Barus and Holley building there on Brown, which is where the shooting did happen. Two people killed, eight people in critical but stable condition. And so, Katie, you're saying you were studying there.
[21:20:01]
There were exams going on at that time, right?
SUN: Yeah. So, the way the building is, there, it's a pretty big building. There's a front area called the IRC that has like a cafe during the week, and there are some tables and then further back into the building, there are classrooms. And I think that's where the exams were. So, I was in the front area of the building. So, I didn't see anything, but I was -- I heard the heard the gunshots.
DEAN: And so when you when you heard them, you said they sounded kind of like pops.
SUN: Pops, bangs. I mean, at first, like, I mean, I've never experienced anything like this, so I didn't really know what to make of it, but there were just there were so many into question. And it was like bangs or pops.
DEAN: Yeah.
SUN: And yeah, at first, like me and the other people that were there, we kind of froze. And then someone was like, we have to go. And then everyone just sprinted out. I left all my stuff there. It's probably still there.
DEAN: Yeah. No, that makes sense. And so obviously in a moment like that, you're just processing, it's probably hard. But if you were to guess how many shots you heard, do you have any idea?
SUN: Maybe five or six. I don't really know exactly, but it was like definitely more than 1 or 2. It was kind of a lot. Yeah.
DEAN: And so you and your fellow students hear those gunshots in the back of that building loud enough, obviously, that you know what it is. You hear them, you get up and you run. You run out of that building?
SUN: Yeah, me and most of the other people that were there, we run out towards the front of the building there, like two sides. So, the front of the building faces the silly, not sure the street name, but we run out there and like everybody is running it. It was so scary. But yeah, we run out, and it was thankfully able to get into my dorm safely.
DEAN: Which is where you are now safely in your dorm room.
SUN: Yes.
DEAN: Do you have any sense of how many people were back there taking exams or were in that classroom area
SUN: That, I don't know, I think I personally don't know anyone who has taken exam in Barus and Holley, but depending on the class sizes that there's -- yeah, I don't really want to give an inaccurate number.
DEAN: No, no, it's okay, it's okay. And in terms of that building, describe it for people. Is it really big? Are there a lot of entrances? What is that building like?
SUN: Yeah, it's pretty big. Again, the front area where I was and where the cafe is, is pretty open. So, there's multiple doors where you can get in. I think there are three floors. And then there's also basements and there's also like they have labs in there. So, you can go in through, like, the front or the, there's honestly a lot of doors. But not all of them are like, a lot of them are lost, but mostly the front doors. They keep them open, or sometimes they're popped open.
DEAN: And so that's my other question to you in terms of getting into that building, do you have to swipe a student ID or do you just walk in?
SUN: I think during the weekdays and during daylight hours, they're mostly unlocked. The main doors are unlocked. Sometimes I know late at night I like to go study there and students will keep a chair to prop it open. Although I think that definitely won't be happening anymore. Yeah, yeah.
DEAN: Did you swipe in today?
SUN: Swipe? No, I just walked in.
DEAN: You just walked in.
So. Okay. So anybody could have walked in at least in the door you went in? SUN: Yes. Yeah.
DEAN: Okay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: All right. Again, our thanks to Katie Sun there. Glad that she can safely be in her dorm room right now. But again, she and, you know, thousands of other students still sheltering in place right now as authorities are searching for this suspect that committed a school shooting, a mass shooting on the campus this afternoon there at Brown University.
I want to bring back in CNN's senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem.
Look, we've heard from a lot of students. We were just talking about this a minute ago. And we're getting a little more just detail around how this this played out. As you would expect, it sounds like a lot of chaos, a lot of fear, a lot of confusion as to what was actually happening. But is there anything in these descriptions and these answers that they've been giving us that stands out to you?
KAYYEM: Well, I'm just surprised that we haven't gotten any video images yet. I'm hoping that this upcoming press conference, well just get a little bit more images of the person, the physique, the race, the -- you know, what was the face covered? We're just not getting any details, which makes, of course, any search impossible.
[21:25:04]
If the public -- if someone from the public, you know, is sitting next to him right now, they wouldn't -- they wouldn't know who it was.
So it may be that they already have images and, and they're trying to hunt him down. So that is, of course, the first. The second is obviously -- look, universities are so hard to protect.
I spent a lot of time advising in this world. They are like cities. So you can't lock them down. They've got a variety of community members from staff to faculty to 18 year olds who have just been living at home five months earlier to grad students. They -- you can't lock them down because perfectly. Because the nature of the university is one in which there's -- there's movement and flow.
But you know, the question about why a particular building wasn't locked down or if its locked down on weekdays, that's something that is going to is going to have to be examined. Most buildings have some sort of security.
So I think those, you know, the most pressing one is we've got -- they've got to find this person and they have to have some standard for ending the lockdown. I experienced this, of course, with the Boston marathon bombing. European cities have dealt with this with terrorism. You know, you lock down a city if your standard is until we get him
and you don't get him, it's very hard -- it's a very hard thing to justify. So, at some stage, even if they don't have him, you have to let people live and move on and mourn and regroup. And so, I think we will hear a little bit about what their timing is. Can't keep not just a university, but the entire city locked down for, you know, longer than mid-morning tomorrow morning. If they still don't have them.
DEAN: Right. Okay. Well, Juliette, stay with us.
Again, we are expecting this press conference. We've been told around 9:30. We're going to take a break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:31:47]
DEAN: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage. It's now 9:31 here on the East Coast, and you're looking live at what were about to go to. It is expected to begin momentarily. We are expecting to hear from officials there in Providence, Rhode Island, to give us the latest.
We last heard from them a couple of hours ago, in which they did confirm that there are two people dead, eight injured in this school shooting that happened this afternoon on Brown University's campus. Inside one of those buildings at the time, they said those numbers could potentially go up because they were still going through that engineering building, trying to make sure they hadn't missed anything, trying to clear out that building and secure it.
When it comes to the suspect in all of this, they really didn't have much. All they knew is that this was a male dressed in all black that had gotten into that building. They know that that person had used a firearm, but they did not recover any weapon at the scene, and they were asking for any information to try to help them track this person down.
And in the meantime, they have kept the students there at Brown University on lockdown, including the surrounding area. It's kind of nestled in with a residential area, and so that whole area is really urged to be on lockdown right now and this is going on. We've talked to students throughout the evening for hours now. Some of them have been on lockdown since around this time that it happened.
We talked to another student that was actually inside the building and said they heard multiple gunshots, that it was easy to get in. Those doors were not locked. Anybody could have walked in there this afternoon and again, without having any further information about who this suspect might be, it's impossible to know if they would have been spotted.
But certainly, officials said they were going to be combing through video. Any sort of Ring camera footage, trying to get a clear image. And so that's going to be it. We're going to be listening for information about the suspect and also about the victims. A couple hours ago, again, and subsequent conversations with the mayor and the governor of Rhode Island, they haven't been able to tell us anything about these victims. If they're students, what their ages are about, the eight who remain in critical but stable conditions.
So that is where we have picked things up. That is where we have left things off. They're going to pick up with new information hopefully here in just a moment.
I do want to bring Juliette Kayyem back into the conversation.
Juliette, I've kind of laid out what we do know. Obviously, as you and I have been talking about throughout the night, there's a lot we don't know. And I know you're very keen to see if they have more information about the specifics about the suspect, that they still haven't, as far as we know, been able to track down yet.
KAYYEM: That's exactly right. Look, there's -- there's only two possible pools of inquiry right now. One is a complete stranger, someone unknown to the university walks into a building on a Saturday and happens upon a massive room with lots of students. And I say it that way because I think that's the less likely scenario.
[21:35:00]
More likely is someone who understood what was happening in that building at this time. It's a Saturday and not a common time to find a lot of students on campus. But because it's exams and study period and knows exactly where the room is, where lots of people are, studying and shoots without -- we haven't seen a picture.
We haven't seen an identity. Is his face covered? I mean, we don't -- we don't even know what race the shooter is. Hopefully, that will become forthcoming. So -- in this press conference.
I want to get to the second point, which is we're hearing that the -- that the doors were open. We just don't know who this person is and what kind of access they might have had to the university. And that's where I think a lot of the inquiry is going to go right now.
It's a Saturday. And you know, big rooms are not normally filled with students. And so, that is -- that is what we're looking at is the nexus of this person to the university.
DEAN: All right. All right. So, let's go now. We're looking at the mayor and let's listen in.
SMILEY: Good evening, everybody. Again I'm Providence Mayor Brett Smiley. We're here to provide an update on the ongoing investigation from this afternoon's horrific attack and terrible act of violence in our community.
In just a moment, well hear from our governor, Governor Dan McKee, and from Brown University President Chris Paxson. Then there are other officials, including and especially law enforcement officials, who are here and able to answer questions. But the three of us will be the only formal speakers. And then we'll take all of your questions and continue to try to be as transparent as possible. As I mentioned at the earlier update, this is an evolving situation.
And there are details that are subject to change. And so, we want to continue to recognize that we're not done yet. And so, we will continue to update and, and please bear with us if we learn more or if there are additional details.
One of the new details that I'm sorry to have to share is that there is one additional victim of today. So now there are nine injured individuals. There was one additional victim who had left the scene. It was not a gunshot wound. The individual learned that they had received fragments from, the shooting that had occurred near them. And so, they have non-life threatening injuries, but is now the ninth victim who is in -- is expected to have a full recovery.
Additionally, we want to make sure the community knows the individual responsible is still at large. But importantly, at the conclusion of this press update, we will be releasing a short video showing an image of the suspect that will be available to all of you. When we finish this briefing.
We know there's a lot of fear and anxiety in the community right now, and we want folks to know that while it is the case that the shelter in place remains in effect for the broader Brown community, that includes campus and the neighborhoods surrounding the campus, we are doing everything we can. And we've been receiving tremendous assistance from our partners and law enforcement. The governor, under his leadership with the state police, has been terrific. The FBI, the ATF and many communities around Rhode Island have assisted. There are over 400 officers currently in the area assisting with the investigation and to ensure the safety of the Providence community.
Additionally, Providence fire has been deployed to venues of assembly. We know that this is a busy time. It's a Saturday night in the holiday season and so you may see firefighters at the mall, at PPAC, at Roger Williams Park, and we don't want anyone to be concerned that there are any issues, but rather we want folks who are out, in the community tonight to see a person in a position of authority and to feel safe in our community.
We have no reason to believe that there are any additional threats at this time. Any calls that have been received in the last several hours to 911 have been unrelated. And we -- there have been no additional calls for service or calls of anything related to this incident. The video that will be released is from that building where the shooting occurred, which is the Barus and Holley building. Looking towards Hope Street. And as I mentioned, that will be shared as soon as we conclude.
We are still encouraging, as we did earlier, for anyone who thinks that they might have information relevant to the investigation to call the police, the Providence police non-emergency line, which is 401- 272-3121, 401-272-3121. Of course, you can also call 911, but if you have information that you think might be able to assist in our investigation, please give us a call.
[21:40:05] At this time, I'd like to turn the mic over to our governor, Dan McKee, who's been in touch with federal state partners and has been a tremendous assistance to us here in Providence throughout the evening -- Governor.
MCKEE: Hey, Mayor, and thank you for your leadership and your entire team. And our job right now is to support your team. And we're doing just that.
All our state resources are available not only to the mayor, but also, Brown University, which our hearts go out to, Brown University, I have had calls, along with the mayor, with the FBI Director Patel, who has offered assistance to us as well, a direct assistance. I just received a call from the president, President Trump as well, expressing the same type of urgency in the same type of offers to respond to us in a way that we, one, keep people safe, but also, two, we're going to make sure that we catch the individual that brought so much, suffering to so many people.
And so, with that, I would just say that we're going to continue to work together. Our state police is on board. We know that there's going to be need for some counseling strategies. So, we're already activated that through our health department.
And we'll make sure that we take the lead from the mayor. And then provide all the assistance we possibly can, along with your lead as well, President Paxson.
So with that, I'll give the mic back to you.
SMILEY: Thank you, Governor.
Now, we'll introduce Brown University president Christina Paxson. Brown PD was the first to respond and has been an incredible partner. And, we have two priorities right now as a community. One, to bring the individual responsible to justice. And two, to pray for the full recovery of those affected.
The Brown community's heart is breaking and Providence's heart is breaking along with it. We are a week and a half away from Christmas, and all of us are getting calls from concerned families, parents, employees, relatives. And so, president, we just want you to know that Providence and Brown stand together today, tomorrow, and in the months ahead, please.
CHRISTINA PAXSON, BROWN UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: Thank you.
Yes. This is the day that one hopes never happens. And it has -- I really appreciate everything that the local law enforcement and everybody is doing to help find this person. Make sure that we can be safe as a community.
Our focus right now is on supporting the families who have been affected by this. The families of the two students who sadly lost their lives today, as well as the eight, now nine students who are in the hospital. We've been in touch with their families. I will talk to them soon. But, you know, we will come together as a community, and we'll get through this.
Currently, the students are still on lockdown, as are people in the area. And hopefully, we can get them back to their dorms and feeling safe and secure as soon as possible. But thank you for everything you're doing now.
SMILEY: Thank you, Chris.
We'll take questions for law enforcement personnel. Anyone who's here today and shares much information as we can at this time. Dan?
REPORTER: Do we? Dan Jaehnig from Channel 10, Mayor, as you know.
Can you talk a little bit about what we're going to see in this video or can --
SMILEY: Commander?
We're going to ask Commander O'Hara to answer that question.
TIMOTHY O'HARA, PROVIDENCE POLICE COMMANDER: Sure. What are you going to see is a video from the building where this incident took place, 184 Hope Street. It's of who we believe is the suspect leaving that area, walking on Hope Street and taking a right on Waterman towards the -- towards the water. He's going to be wearing dark clothing. You're not going to be able to see his face dark gray or black clothing.
And some of the witnesses have also told us that he may have been wearing a camouflage gray mask. That is unconfirmed, but if anybody should recognize this person in any way seen him earlier, recognize his gait. Obviously, we want to know about that.
REPORTER: Deputy chief, you had said or somebody had said, I want to make sure were correct in reporting this, that he may have -- he may have walked out of the building. And I'm wondering, how did he get access to the building? And is there video from inside the building?
O'HARA: That I don't have -- I don't have the answer if there's video inside that building that depicts him, there is video inside that building. However, I haven't seen him on video inside that building. And he did walk out of the building.
REPORTER: So, can you explain that to me, in all of us? So, he was in the building. We don't have video of him in the building?
O'HARA: We haven't recognized him in the video yet. We do see some video from inside the building of a commotion. Clearly, students are running. However, we don't have the -- from the video that I've seen so far, we don't have the suspect depicted in the video.
REPORTER: Is there any reason to believe this is international terrorism, or is this just some disgruntled --
O'HARA: That we don't know yet.
REPORTER: A disgruntled student that just came in to shoot up because he was upset about final exams or something like that?
[21:45:03]
O'HARA: We are not -- we're not.
REPORTER: Commander, have you been getting tips since the last briefing?
O'HARA: Yes, some tips have been coming in and we have been running them down. We're going to be using the assistance of the FBI to get a categorize all the tips that come in so that we have it in an orderly format for us to, to look at. But yes, we've had some tips. None of them have worked out for us yet.
REPORTER: Have law enforcement -- do you think, like, do you have a better idea than we did just three hours ago, since at least now you have a visual image?
O'HARA : Yes, a little bit better. But we're still -- we're still -- we're still not there yet.
SMILEY: Ian?
REPORTER: Inside the building.
SMILEY: Ian, first.
REPORTER: Commander, has law enforcement done any building by building by building search of the area, surrounding area?
O'HARA: Yes, we have. We've gone through some buildings. Weve made sure that students that were barricaded themselves in were safe. We removed them, and they're now in a reunification center.
REPORTER: How far is that search gone into the residential area around Brown?
O'HARA: It's gone to all the buildings that we think that were affected by it. Any student that called us and said that they were barricaded and they didn't feel safe, those were the buildings that we checked.
REPORTER: Does that video show gun?
O'HARA : No, it doesn't.
REPORTER: It doesn't show a gun. And also, Mayor, the president confirmed that all of the victims are students at Brown University.
SMILEY: I can't confirm that. I don't -- I don't have that information to confirm.
REPORTER: That's what you just said, right, president?
PAXSON: That's what I've been told. Yes.
REPORTER: All of this, all of the victims, including the two that passed, are students of Brown University?
PAXSON: The one who came in recently. I'm not sure.
REPORTER: Okay.
SMILEY: There was a question over here.
REPORTER: There was bloodstains on the sidewalk of Waterman and clothing. All the shots done within the building or were they shot outside?
O'HARA: Well, the incident took place inside the building.
REPORTER: Inside. Is that where bloodstains and clothing outside the building?
REPORTER: Where the building did it happen?
O'HARA: It happened inside of a classroom.
REPORTER: Do you know what floor?
O'HARA: First floor.
REPORTER: Has the weapon been found? If it wasn't in the video?
O'HARA: No, it hasn't.
REPORTER: Have you talked to -- have you talked to any of the victims?
SMILEY: Steph (ph)?
REPORTER: can you walk us through what you now know about the timeline of events? What time did the suspect walk into the building, and how quickly did he begin shooting? Did he go straight for the classroom? Was it the students who were taking the finals?
O'HARA: I don't know what the students were doing in this classroom. However, I don't also know how he entered the building that we're working on.
REPORTER: Okay, so you don't know that yet. And is the suspect of college age, does he seem in the video?
O'HARA: He could be in his 30s, but we're not positive. That's what -- that's our first -- that's our first inclination.
SMILEY: Pat?
REPORTER: Sir, can you speak to the type of presence from the federal government that's on the ground right now? And what type of personnel do you expect in the coming days, specifically tomorrow?
O'HARA: So, right now, we're working with ATF and the FBI who are present right now. Those are the federal agents that were working with.
REPORTER: Based on the based on the bullets. Deputy Chief, do we know what kind of gun.?
O'HARA: We don't have the gun identified yet? No.
REPORTER: What type of activity are they engaging? Are they doing data collection? Evidence collection?
O'HARA: Data collection, evidence collection and video collection.
SMILEY: Go ahead.
REPORTER: How many? How many? How many other people were inside the classroom?
O'HARA: That I'm not sure of? I don't know how many students were in there.
REPORTER: Could you maybe answer some of the questions about the Brown students? What was that class there, or was it a final exam? You're the president. You must know.
PAXSON: I don't know.
REPORTER: You don't know?
PAXSON: I don't know that.
REPORTER: Okay.
SMILEY: Sir, you had a question? Go.
REPORTER: So, have the -- have the shelter in place orders or evacuations spread to other parts of the city? Because we've heard that happened at the moment.
SMILEY: No, they -- they have not. The shelter in place has not changed. It remains in effect for the Brown campus and the surrounding neighborhood. City of Providence, you know, if you live near Brown, that's where the shelter in place is in effect. It is not in effect in other neighborhoods because we have no reason to believe that there is any particular threat beyond the campus area at this time.
As I mentioned at the press briefing before this, I'll reiterate right now, in this day and age, there is a lot of misinformation that can spread. As it pertains to official updates regarding the shelter in place or any future announcements, please follow the city of Providence official social media channels.
We've also put out updates through our 311 system, but the city of Providence on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram will be updating throughout the evening. If that did not come from an official channel, then it is not official.
Right now, the shelter in place is the same as it had been earlier, and it remains the same.
REPORTER: How long will you --
SMILEY: Please, Ed?
REPORTER: How is the shelter in place message being conveyed to the neighborhood? Is it through just through the media, or are you making phone calls?
SMILEY: So, we have all of the above. We have conveyed it through the media. We've conveyed it through our official social media channels. We've pushed it out through our 311 system, which is the city service system. We've been in touch with our city council leaders throughout the neighborhood, including our Councilman John Goncalves, from this neighborhood, who have their own distribution channels through newsletters and such.
And for all of you who are Rhode Islanders, you know, this is a closeknit community.
[21:50:04]
That is our strength, particularly in this moment. We are all in touch with our neighbors. We are all in touch with our loved ones at this moment, and we are sharing information as directly and honestly as we can, and we will continue to push out updates through those same various channels.
REPORTER: How long do you expect --
SMILEY: In the way back.
REPORTER: Is there any indication of when students were sheltering in place in public campus buildings? When they will be allowed to at least leave and go to those reunification sites?
SMILEY: We -- there is no notification about when that might end, because we will make that announcement when we feel like it is safe to do so. And so we don't have a timeline on that, and nor should we have a timeline that safety, is the primary concern right now in bringing the responsible individual to justice is our top priority.
REPORTER: Is it your belief that -- is it your belief that the just one suspect or people helping him? And if people are helping him? Deputy, what is your message to people that might be aiding? Because it's been six hours and you know, no one knows.
O'HARA: He's unidentified. So we don't know if people may be helping him or not at this point.
REPORTER: But if you assume that, what's your message to anyone that may know who he is or helping him or hiding him?
O'HARA: If they know who he is, please call us.
SMILEY: Dan and Steph. REPORTER: I ask this with all due respect, deputy chief, just so I'm
trying to process this so people so we can bring this person to justice. He was in the building, but we don't have video of him in the building. We have video. We just don't know if its him. Do you think that he went into a bathroom and got dressed and then came out?
And secondly, could the president of the university address? Does anybody have access to that building? I mean, you can't go in a building without a pass key anywhere. So --
SMILEY: I'll take both of those.
As has been said, and we'll say again, the video that we have and the video that we will be sharing when we conclude this update is of the -- of the suspect leaving the building, we are combing through lots of video, both on campus through private cameras. Providence police, with great assistance from our federal partners and others, is combing through any video we can find.
And again to the community, if you have some of those Ring cameras or other video that you think might be relevant, please call us and share it with us. We do not at this time have video that we have seen of the individual coming into the building or moving throughout the building, but that doesn't mean that we will not discover it. We are actively working this investigation as we speak. It has been a priority for us to give updates when we have them. That's why we're here right now. When we have more information, we will share it.
As was reported at the earlier press conference from the provost, because there were exams taking place, the outer doors of the building were unlocked. There were sure to be doors inside the building that were locked and that require badge access, but the outer doors were unlocked because it was 4:00 while exams were taking place. That was reported earlier. That remains true now.
Please, Steph.
REPORTER: Is there any -- you have any reason to believe that the shooter is still in the area?
SMILEY: We don't know.
REPORTER: President Paxson, could you address talk directly to the students? They've been on lockdown. What about meals? What if someone has a medical emergency? If you could talk directly to the students right now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President, you can walk behind the stand that have been in.
PAXSON: I mean, I know the students are anxious and I know they're in very constant communication with loved ones and parents through social media and on their phones. If we hear that students need support, if they have a medical issue or something like that, we will address it. Our major priority right now is for their safety.
REPORTER: President Paxson, can you confirm that several of the victims are on women's lacrosse team?
PAXSON: I cannot confirm that.
REPORTER: President, how are you doing tonight? Processing all this?
PAXSON: Yeah, it's hard to process. I was on a plane to D.C. when it happened and flew right back, and I'm catching up right now.
REPORTER: President, with all due respect, six hours after the shooting and you said you don't know what was going on in that classroom. How does that happen? Were they taking an exam? Were they waiting for a club?
PAXSON: I don't know, I don't know.
REPORTER: Six hours later, you're the president and you don't know.
PAXSON: I do not know.
REPORTER: Was there any shell casings or evidence as a result of any determination have been made about the style of weapon?
O'HARA: Yes. Yes, yes, there's shell casings, but were not going to release any specific information about that type of evidence.
REPORTER: Do you take that without having identified a suspect. You think that age and his ability to get further away from law enforcement?
SMILEY: As I mentioned, we've got over 400 officers on the ground right now. Every minute matters. We know every minute matters. And other than the people you see standing behind you, everyone else right now is out on the streets working hard to bring this individual to justice and to bring some confidence and safety and security to our residents. And that's what all the people who should be doing are doing that are focused on.
We will continue to provide updates as they are available. We will continue to do regular briefings.
[21:55:01]
Please stay informed to our press list. If you are not on our press list, please let us know. You can find any of the individuals back there who sign you up for the press list.
That's all the updates we have for this time. We will share the video that was referred to several times to that same list. So, if you need to be on the email list, you can see Josh here, or a couple other staff people in the back.
Thank you. These are our updates for now. That's all the time we have. And we will be back here when we have more to share. We will continue to do regular updates. Thank you.
DEAN: Okay. We were just getting the latest there from Providence officials. We now know that the two who were killed were students at Brown University. And that those injured, we're told, also students. The eight injured, we are told there's also a ninth person since that last press conference that was injured with non-life threatening injuries.
Now we are waiting for that video they just spoke about. Of course, we'll show it to you as soon as we get it. But they are in the process right now of releasing video of who they think is the suspect.
Interestingly, they said they don't think that they're going. They said you won't be able to see their face. They just described that this person is wearing dark gray or black clothing. They might have been wearing a camouflage mask. It's unclear.
There was speculation by the authorities that he was potentially in his 30s. But again, they do not have an identity identification on this person. So, it is still somebody that is anonymous to them. They don't know how this person got into the building. They know that he exited the building. That shooting happening in a classroom on the first floor.
The shelter in place is remaining in effect. So, for those students who have been told to shelter in place now for -- you know, it's nearly six hours, they are staying in place. The sense that we were getting from those comments is that they do not believe it's safe for students to not be sheltering in place at this moment.
I believe Juliette is still with us. We can bring her in.
Juliette, we are waiting for this video, which you were hoping to see something. It is interesting that. And they were getting at this in this press conference that, of, you know, they're clearly combing through a lot of video, but nothing of his face, nothing that is, you know, at this point, they're hoping somebody recognizes his walk, or something like that.
It was interesting to, for whatever reason, they still don't know what was going on in that classroom when the shooting happened. You know, six hours after the fact. Did any -- what stood out to you about all of that?
KAYYEM: Well, the first is, of course, the video. I mean, we have we've not even been told race yet. Or are they looking for a white man, a black man, Hispanic man, and just simply to give the public a sense of who they should be looking for or who it could be?
The gait that we're going to see someone walking away that is generally going to only be helpful if you know the person, your family member, you know how your son walks. You --
DEAN: Right.
KAYYEM: You're the fiancee or girlfriend, you know who that person is just by a mere look, that's not going to disclose anything to the general public. I thought it was interesting. They said in their 30s. So, you're
taking him out of, like, you know, sort of school age or college age? And they are clearly, looking at videos from surrounding areas.
Brown, I'm a parent of an alumni, you know, is it's got sort of courtyards, but the areas were talking about are the traditional Ivy League courtyard, the areas were talking about are in, you know, sort of surrounded by homes or dorms. Lots of students live off campus. It's like you're in Providence. You don't really feel like you're at a university.
So they're looking at Ring cameras of private homes, of offices, of restaurants to try to try to see if they can hunt this or find that, find this person. I thought the other interesting thing is we appear to have no pictures from inside the room. That tells me how quickly this happened. The person went in shot and then left, and not a single person was.
At least for now, things are changing that we've seen. Anyone any pictures from inside the room? I don't know if they came in the back. This may be an auditorium room where the students are facing one way. Maybe it was a review session or, you know, the exam itself. And those are the things that that we will learn.
They're getting pressure, obviously about the shutdown. You could hear, I thought, a very impressive, very, commanding and also empathetic Mayor Brett Smiley really sort of command the information made it clear what we didn't know and that he'll be back.
DEAN: All right. Juliette, thank you. You've been with us throughout the evening. There's certainly more to come on all of this, but we appreciate your analysis and expertise.
Again, we are standing by for this video that we are expecting to get the first look at the suspect.
Stay with CNN on this. Our coverage is going to continue. Jim Sciutto is going to pick up our breaking news coverage that continues on all of this right now.
