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Man in Custody After Two Dead, Nine Injured In Brown University Shooting; 15 Killed In Attack Targeting Australia's Jewish Community; Trump Mourns Deadly Shooting In Rhode Island, Australia; Person Detained After Two Killed In Brown University Shooting. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired December 14, 2025 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[19:00:36]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And tonight we're following two major stories. First, we do have breaking news out of Rhode Island. Law enforcement sources telling CNN the person of interest detained in connection with the deadly Brown University shooting has been identified as 24-year-old Benjamin Erickson of Wisconsin. CNN obtaining the -- observing the FBI at a Wisconsin home owned by Erickson's family.

Authorities have not publicly identified the person in custody. Sources say earlier today, a person of interest was found with a revolver and a small Glock handgun in his room at a hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island. A CNN crew saw law enforcement swarmed that location early this morning.

All of this, of course, coming just one day after the deadly shooting on the Ivy League campus. Two people died as a result. Several others were injured in that attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH ODURO, TEACHING ASSISTANT, BROWN UNIVERSITY: The first couple gunshots went straight to the chalkboard exactly where I was standing.

MIA TRETTA, STUDENT, BROWN UNIVERSITY: It keeps happening because lawmakers and legislators aren't acting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is an epidemic that's flooding our country. And to have it come so close to home, it's really, really hard to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: On the other side of the world, another deadly shooting. At least 15 people dead in a targeted attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores.

RUSSELL, UNCLE OF BONDI BEACH SURVIVOR: I just saw an older lady get shot and she was on the floor. Saw another guy get shot very badly injured on the left hand side. I just saw a bunch of people screaming run towards me. I didn't know what was going on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Jewish event with terrorists and murderers, you know, went to kill Jewish people celebrating Hanukkah. It is just unbelievable that in Australia this is allowed to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Police saying the two suspects were a father and son. The father killed by police on the scene, the son now in critical but stable condition.

We're covering both of these stories extensively tonight. We're going to start, though, in Providence, Rhode Island, where we are getting more updates on the investigation. And CNN's John Berman has been there throughout the day.

John, I know you've been talking to a lot of people, including your own son, who were on the ground there when this happened. But let's start with what we're learning now on social media.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. This investigation has taken some really interesting turns. CNN, first of all, has heard from several officials that the person of interest in custody is, as you said, named Benjamin Erickson, a 24-year-old from Wisconsin who is a military veteran, according to a LinkedIn profile identified by CNN connected to this individual.

On this LinkedIn profile, he talks about being an infantryman serving several years in the Army, being a trained rifleman, and serving in various positions at Arlington National Cemetery, including in positions as an Honor Guard. Now, the military tells CNN he had no overseas deployments but served in the military for some time with fairly extensive training.

Also, on this LinkedIn profile, and this is truly interesting, this 24-year-old who had taken classes online, at least in Wisconsin, also said he was studying here at Brown University in the fall. Now, we have not confirmed that with the university itself, what was said by authorities overnight after this person was taken into custody, what he was not a current student at Brown, but left sort of unsaid was whether he had some connection in the past.

We have no direct confirmation of that. But obviously, if he did study here as his LinkedIn profile suggests, he either planned to or had, that would create a direct connection, Jessica, between this individual and this campus, which is something that authorities had been wondering about. But we need to wait to hear more for it to go from just on the LinkedIn profile to something that authorities have confirmed.

We'll wait, obviously, to hear more from them if and when they brief us again. The last briefing was much earlier today. I don't know that we expect another one at this point, but that obviously a key area of inquiry right now.

DEAN: Yes, no doubt about it. And John, where was this person, this person of interest taken into custody?

[19:05:06]

BERMAN: You know, it's so interesting. So I'm at Brown University right now on campus, which is in the middle of Providence. He was taken into custody about a 25 minute drive south from here at a hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island. The Providence Airport is actually not in Providence. It's in Warwick. So past that, you drive past the airport to Coventry, that's where the hotel is. Taken into custody at about 3:30 a.m. We had CNN teams actually staying there and one of our CNN employees actually filmed part of the law enforcement activity around the time.

CNN has since learned when he was taken into custody, authorities found two firearms, one revolver and also a Glock nine-millimeter. It was the Glock that had what we're told was a laser pointer associated with the weapon as well. Our John Miller and others have been reporting what's happening now is they're trying to connect those firearms directly with the shell casings that were found at the scene.

I should note, I'm on Hope Street here in Providence. About a block away is this engineering building where the shooting took place. This street has been open now for a few hours. It was closed for almost a full 24 hours. But now there is traffic as you can see going by. The building itself still closed, but investigation trying to track and trace the shell casings and connect them to the weapons themselves and also maybe connect DNA from the casings or the weapons to the individual that is in custody.

As of now, no charges have been filed, at least not that we've heard just yet. But authorities say there is no current threat in the area. So that lets you know they think they have -- they think there is a reason to feel safe now, though there are still just calling him a person of interest. Jessica.

DEAN: Yes. And John, you have, as I mentioned there, been there all day. What are you hearing from people?

BERMAN: It's been really interesting to follow the hours that they've passed throughout the day. Brown has canceled finals, final presentation, final papers, any assignments. Those are now gone. And obviously classes were over as well. So people most of today have been trying to find a way to get out of here. Students trying to get home in some cases days, if not a full week earlier than they had planned.

When I arrived via train, the Acela, at the train station here in Providence, there were students trying to go south or north to Boston. I met a student from Canada who was taking a train to Boston to get on the first flight he could without even knowing when that would be, just because he wanted to get home. So that's what students are doing. It's got to be so unsettling, disorienting to at one point be planning for finals or papers, and the next minute have all that be gone and trying to get home on top of trying to cope with obviously the tragedy and what they all went through last night because, you know, even for those who weren't in this building or fled this building, they were on lockdown, sheltering in place all over this campus for hours and hours.

The official shelter in place order not lifted to, what, 5:00 a.m.? But most students were locked up in libraries and other buildings well after midnight. You noted my son, who was visiting a friend here, was among them. And all these students just tell me, you know, it was a long, tense night. They were following all the information they could, getting whatever information they could, and all of them had a sense of relief if they were lucky enough to sleep, to wake up to the news that a person of interest was in custody.

But now they have to deal with the grief and they have to deal with, you know, what's next. And that's not going to be easy for this close knit community -- Jessica.

DEAN: Yes, certainly not. And you can't blame any of them that after all that they just want to go home and they just want to see their families. We can certainly appreciate that.

John Berman, we will check back in with you. Thank you again for all your reporting. We really appreciate it.

Let's break this all down now. Former senior FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole and former Boston police commissioner Ed Davis both joining us now.

Good to have both of you here with us.

Mary Ellen, we just kind of walked through what we know about this person of interest. And they're being very specific about still calling it a person of interest. What stands out to you?

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER SENIOR FBI PROFILER: Well, a couple of things stand out to me. The first is the reason that they are probably delaying at least naming him as a suspect is they want to be able to tie him to forensic evidence. That's the strongest tie that you can have. And secondarily, they want to be able when they present the charges in court, they want to be able to say, this would be the prosecutors, that they were not influenced by the community or pressure from the community to name this person without --before they had really strong evidence, which is the forensic evidence, the ballistics, DNA, anything that can forensically tie this person to this crime is extremely important. And I think that is the basis for the delay at this point.

DEAN: Yes. And, Ed, what about you, knowing that we -- this person has this military background.

[19:10:01] This idea, too, that he came from Wisconsin driving to Rhode Island, I couldn't help but notice a pattern of, you know, that we've seen over the last several months in shootings with suspects coming across country, driving across country, like what happened in Washington, D.C., what happened here in New York City this summer.

ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: That's exactly right, Jessica. It really is troubling to see the time and the effort that people are putting into this that they seem to have a targeted mentality that there's something that they're angry about in a different part of the country and they're not hesitant to take significant numbers of firearms across state lines to commit these atrocities.

The military connection is also troubling. And there's no doubt in my mind that the Department of Defense and people in the military are looking at these phenomena and trying to understand whether there's any similarities between the two of them. A lot of people go into the military. Some people try it for just a few years. So the numbers are huge in the United States. But just like the suicide problem amongst special forces, these are things that the military worries about. And hopefully they're looking closely at this.

DEAN: Mary Ellen, as you were walking us through, trying to get that forensic evidence, trying to make sure they're taking their time, putting this case together as authorities are trying to put together a possible motive, what might -- what might that process look like? And how important is that piece of it to the broader investigation?

O'TOOLE: The motive is extremely important to understand what happened here and why it happened. So what they'll be looking at now that they know who it is, they'll be looking at what they do in other cases. And we could almost say it in our sleep, right? They'll be looking at what's in his computer, what's on his cell phone, what they find at his house in Wisconsin, in his apartment in D.C. What does he write about? What does he talk about?

And we know in these cases, we've seen it for 25 years. So we're pretty good at being able to say there likely was a leakage in this case. And leakage is announcing ahead of time, not just verbally. It could be in some kind of a written communication or something online that this is what you're planning to do. And leakage can be very insightful in terms of helping law enforcement understand what a possible motive.

But there has never, ever just one motive to a crime like this. Never. So there will be multiple reasons whether some border on having mental health implications and others do not. There will be multiple motives for why he carried out this crime.

DEAN: That's so interesting. And, Ed, we know that these authorities recovered two firearms from that hotel room where they found him. John was getting into this a little bit, but help us understand from your background, what can they learn from those.

DAVIS: Well, those are the checks now that are being done by the ATF and trying to run down the history of the gun. So they want to know where the gun was manufactured, where it was purchased. Has it gone from a number of different buyers, or did this man walk into a gun store in Wisconsin or some other state and purchased a gun themselves so there's no history to it?

The other thing they'll do is look at the brass, the ejected shell casings and any bullets that they find in the weapon that they got in the hotel room. And check that through NIBIN, which is a computerized system that checks to see if the spent shell casings were unique to that gun and never used in a crime before. Police across the country collect spent shell casings at incidents all over the place. And they submit them to NIBIN and they can be compared.

All of that information is very, very helpful. And it could also lead to co-conspirators, people that help them get firearms. You know, this investigation is very much just starting. A lot of people think the arrest is made and that's it. But that's not the truth. There's a lot of work that needs to be done here.

DEAN: Right. It takes some time. And Mary Ellen, Ed just mentioned, are there co-conspirators, are there people that helped him? That obviously prompts the question, not only are you looking for those people, but obviously they're probably going to be talking to any friends, any family to try to put a picture together of what his mindset was, what he was doing in the lead up to this.

O'TOOLE: They will. They'll be talking to so many people just to get a better idea of, was he totally independent on this or did he rely on others to help him? Others who may have not been aware that this ultimately was his plan.

[19:15:02]

So they'll be putting those puzzle pieces together to determine, how long has his thinking about this crime been going on? Did it go back six months? Has it gone back a year? And what were those conversations like with other people, and were other people able to assist him in putting the plan together? Or did people just want to be his friend and help him and they had absolutely no idea of what his intent was? So all that has to be sorted out, really, to be able to finalize charges that ultimately will be filed on this case.

DEAN: All right. As you both have underscored here, much more to come on this.

Mary Ellen O'Toole and Ed Davis, our thanks to both of you. We really appreciate it.

Still ahead tonight, we are going to be live in Australia one day after a deadly terror attack on the Jewish community there. The death toll rising. Today, we're also learning more about the victims and the suspected gunman who carried out that heinous act.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:20:35]

DEAN: We have new details about a tragedy on a day of celebration for Jewish communities around the world. Authorities in Australia say at least 15 people were killed in a shooting targeting an event celebrating the first day of Hanukkah along Sydney's Bondi Beach. Dozens are in the hospital. More than a thousand people had gathered there to celebrate, and police say there were two suspects, a father, who had six firearms licensed to him, and his son. They also say that father is now dead. His son in critical condition.

I want to bring in Angus Watson, who's joining us now from Sydney.

Angus, you've been following this story. What is the latest?

ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: The latest here, Jessica, is that we're starting to get a little bit more information about the victims, 15 victims of this atrocious terror attack targeting the Jewish community here in Bondi Beach, which is a very proud, very visible, very historic community. The age ranges of those 15 people killed range from a 10-year-old girl to an 87-year-old man.

Now that 87-year-old man, Alex Kleytman, came here from Ukraine after the Second World War. He was a Holocaust survivor, and lost his life last night in this dreadful terror attack here at Bondi Beach. The 10- year-old girl died of her wounds in hospital overnight as well.

Now in hospital, there are over 40 people with injuries ranging from serious to critical. Multiple surgeries undertaken last night at hospitals across the entire city. Among those people hurt are two police officers whose situation is critical but stable. And as you mentioned there, one of the gunmen there in also in a serious but -- in a critical but serious condition there.

That as police try to piece together more about what happened here last night when two men took to a bridge behind me and began firing down into a park where this Hanukkah festival was going on. Some reaction this morning here in the community. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We thought it was fireworks at the start. And then next second we see people lying on the floor. So a kid gets shot. It was probably the worst thing I've ever seen. Ran back up to the shore, making sure everyone was all right. Went up to North Bondi. Saw that unfold. Everyone was running. Everyone was recording. We went back down. And then unfortunately, I saw a couple dead bodies and it was the worst feeling. Words couldn't describe it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now the Jewish community here in Sydney and across Australia, and indeed across the world, has warned of a spike, an increase in antisemitic incidents, in antisemitic attacks, of violence against the community since October 7th, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel. Here in Australia, Jewish groups have logged hundreds and thousands of attacks on Jewish members of the community over that period, Jessica.

DEAN: And Angus, you talked a little bit about the victims. We know, as you were saying, the ages fall between 10 and 87 years old. The Jewish organization Chabad says a Holocaust survivor is among the victims. What do you know about that?

WATSON: That's right. This gentleman came to Australia after the Second World War. He's from Ukraine. He came here for a better life after that obvious tragedy of the Second World War. He came here seeking a better life and this is how it ended here in this terrorist attack at Bondi Beach with two antisemitic gunmen attacking the Jewish community.

As one member of the community here said, just trying to kill as many Jewish people as they could before bystanders and the police intervened. One bystander there seen attacking the gunman, dispossessing him, and using that gun to then defend the community in extraordinary footage your viewers may have seen.

DEAN: Yes, a real hero there. And what was just a heinous act.

Angus, thank you so much for your reporting. We appreciate it.

And authorities are treating that shooting as a terrorist incident. Officers removed explosive devices from a nearby vehicle earlier.

National security analyst Peter Bergen is joining us now.

Peter, thanks for being here with us. We are continuing to learn more about all of this. What is standing out to you as we get more details?

[19:25:07]

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, the fact that the alleged perpetrators are a father and a son is pretty interesting. It's not that usual in a terrorist attack to have family members conduct the attack. We did have one of those in the United States, San Bernardino, California, you may remember, Jessica, where a husband and wife team killed 14 people attending a holiday party.

And they were motivated by ISIS so -- but that's, you know, I studied terrorism for a long time, and involving your family member is not typical. Now, there's an operational security element to this, which is interesting, because if you're conspiring with a family member, you very naturally are meeting with them and you're not necessarily talking on the phone or e-mailing or texting or doing the kinds of things that law enforcement, you know, might pick up because you have a very natural reason to be with your family member. And so they could have been talking about this and planning this in a way that would have been very hard to penetrate.

Now, earlier you had Mary Ellen O'Toole on talking about leakage in the case of the Brown University attack. Now, leakage is a very interesting kind of concept that the FBI and other law enforcement authorities are focused on because usually people do say something to someone, and obviously that will be a focus here in the attack in Australia. What, you know, typically people say are more likely to say things to peers or family members, and they may not say exactly what it is, but they will maybe intimate something, or certainly people in their immediate circle may suspect that something is up. Are they going to a firing range to do practice? Are they collecting weapons?

We are reporting that the perpetrator, the father, had six weapons in a country where weapons are very hard to get hold of. They had a mass shooting about three decades ago, and they had some of the tightest gun laws in the world as a result. So that kind of thing is certainly something that authorities would be looking at. And one other thing, you know, Angus Watson, our producer, spoke just before, and he mentioned about this uptick in antisemitism. And there's been a report by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry which says that these incidents have tripled since October 7th, 2023 in the Hamas attack on Israel.

And so even though they're slightly down from last year, they certainly have gone up. And there's been quite a lot of criticism by Israeli politicians claiming that the Australians have not taken this seriously enough. We've heard that from Prime Minister Netanyahu and also the president of Israel, kind of criticizing the Australians for not taking this issue more seriously.

DEAN: And to that end, the prime minister of Australia saying today that the country must take significant action, that they're going to do everything they can to root out antisemitism. What do you think they can do and what needs to change there?

BERGEN: I mean, Jessica, I think that's a very hard question. You know, I -- you know, the alert, the terrorism alert is at probable right now, which means, which is kind of not, you know, it's not critical. It's not imminent. But it's clearly they're concerned about potential other incidents. You know, how you solve that issue, you know, is sort of above my pay grade. I don't think there's any -- you know, you can't wave a magic wand over what people think and what they may actually do.

But, you know, this is not a problem just in Australia. We saw an attack in Manchester in the United Kingdom at a synagogue just a couple of months ago, where two Jewish worshipers were killed on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. We saw in Washington, D.C., where I'm based, an attack on two Israeli embassy officials, young, relatively young couple who were about to get married.

So, you know, this antisemitism issue is hardly particular to Australia. And, you know, it's a global problem. And unfortunately, we've seen this terrible event in Australia. But, you know, I doubt it's going to be the last one. You know, in the post-October 7th era levels of antisemitism have gone up globally.

DEAN: Right. They certainly have. And I'm also thinking about that Boulder, Colorado, attack here in the U.S. as well.

Peter Bergen, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

A lot more ahead as we learn more details around the person of interest in the mass shooting at Brown University. We will have some reaction from the White House. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:33:58]

DEAN: Back now with more on our breaking news this evening. President Trump responding to the deadly shootings, both in Providence, Rhode Island, and also in Sydney, Australia.

Let's bring in CNN's Julia Benbrook, who is live from the White House. Julia, what is the President saying?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Donald Trump is reacting after several tragic events took place this weekend. He made these remarks at a holiday party taking place here at the White House. This was pre-planned and as he was speaking with guests, he commented on that shooting at Brown University that we know killed two students and injured nine others, as well as the other deadly shooting that took place in Australia. I want to play you part of his remarks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Before we begin, however, I want to just pay my respects to the people. Unfortunately, to are no longer with us. Brown University nine injured and two are looking down on us right now from heaven.

And, likewise in Australia, as you know, there was a terrible attack and that was an antisemitic attack, obviously. And, I just want to pay my respects to everybody

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:35:10]

BENBROOK: And since he made those comments, we have, of course, received more information. There's now a name associated with that shooting at Brown University, a person of interest. He also commented on a deadly attack that took place in Syria this weekend. It left two U.S. Army soldiers and one civilian interpreter dead as well as three others wounded. He referred to that as an ambush attack.

He said it was an ISIS attack against both the United States and Syria and he has promised retaliation related to that. So these remarks really started off in a somber tone. And then, he did make quite a bit of a pivot, taking on several other topics, more of his campaign style rhetoric as he introduced notable guest attendees, talked a lot about his golf game, and took at least one dig at his predecessor as he continued to tout his administration's recent work.

At the end, First Lady, Melania Trump, again addressed the tragedies, saying that she was thinking of all of those involved, adding, "My heart is with them."

DEAN: All right, Julia, thank you so much from The White House, we appreciate that. Still to come from physical injuries to the psychological trauma,

we're going to talk with an expert about what the mass shooting victims at Brown University and also at Bondi Beach will face in the days and weeks to come.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've lived through worse. We're going to get through this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:41:10]

DEAN: Earlier tonight, the Providence Community gathered to mourn after a gunman killed two students and injured nine others. The mayor, speaking about those survivors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BRETT SMILEY (D), PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: The resilience that these survivors showed and shared with me is frankly pretty overwhelming. It pales in comparison to what they've gone through for the rest of us here.

We're all saddened and scared and tired but what they've been through is something entirely different, and yet they showed courage and hope and gratitude for how this community has stood up for them and how the health care providers cared for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: For more on the medical response to shootings like this, we bring in Emergency physician Dr. Megan Ranney, she's joining us now. Doctor, thanks so much for being here with us. Last night when this was all breaking and we heard from the mayor and other officials, they were talking about this special group of EMTs, medical professionals that go in before the buildings been cleared, but essentially are going to try to get to these shooting victims as soon as possible and they go in, they're just incredible heroes, because things can still be very active.

The point being that the quicker, of course, they get to these people, the better chance they have to survive. Can you tell us a little bit more about that and why time matters in these mass shootings?

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, YALE UNIVERSITY'S SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH DEAN: Yes, absolutely, we talk about the importance of getting victims to treatment as quickly as possible because as you said, minutes matter after one of these horrific traumas.

The American College of Surgeons has been teaching folks across the country about how to use tourniquets in the classroom or in the workplace, because shootings like this have become so common, and tourniquets can staunch the flow of blood until first responders get there. I can't help but think that the fact that Rhode Island is a small state, that the victims were only minutes away from the state's leading level one trauma center is part of what helped to decrease the loss of life last night.

I know that those students were quickly transported to some of the most expert emergency physicians, nurses, trauma surgeons, really in the world. And I know that all of the folks in the Brown community and Greater Providence are quite grateful for that tonight.

DEAN: Certainly, and we hear a lot of talk, especially when it comes to survivors about these serious critical injuries there in, you know, critical condition. But they're stable. What does all of that mean, and what should we read into that.

RANNEY: So, the different levels that we give people indicate, you know, are they in the intensive care unit. Are they on just a regular floor? Are they on a ventilator? Are they responding? I would say for the sake of the average public, once folks stop being critical or when they're critical but stable things are usually looking pretty good. And so, the reports that are coming out of the hospital give a lot of us hope.

What I do worry about, though, are the psychological aftereffects, not just for the people who were physically hurt by bullets, but for all those kids who were in the room, for the folks who were locked in the buildings for hours, and of course, for the families, colleagues, staff who were also affected. We know that after these types of mass traumas, that those ripple effects extend quite far, and they're sometimes invisible. So we need to pay just as much attention to those psychological effects as the physical ones.

DEAN: Right, I mean, you think about what a long tail these sorts of things have and when it comes to Providence, you know, I talked to somebody who, you know, we talked to some people who, you know, their friend had seen a body or they are like you're saying they have the experience of barricading themselves inside and thinking that they might be in danger or that they die.

You think about Bondi Beach, and there was that survivor that was talking about watching a child be shot. I mean these are things that don't go away, they stay with people for a long, long time.

[19:45:30]

RANNEY: That's right, I spent much of my career working on trying to reduce gun violence and its after effects and thanks in part to the re-appropriation of money for this problem in 2020, under the first Trump administration, we now have data showing that after people in a community experience a mass shooting, they can experience symptoms ranging from post-traumatic stress to depression to substance use disorder to things like headaches that extend for months, if not years.

You know, I encourage folks to be in community. One of the best things that we can do after an acute event like this is to support each other. If you're having nightmares or flashbacks or feeling numb or depressed to get therapy, there's no shame in seeking help and to know that there are solutions out there.

I'll also say that it's not just about the people that were physically present. We know from some of these other mass casualties that people who are far away. But watch it on the news or know someone who is present can also be affected by posttraumatic stress symptoms.

So, keep an eye on yourself and your friends and family in the aftermath of these two horrible tragedies in the past day.

DEAN: Certainly, and worth noting too, you were part of that, that Brown Hospital system for a long time, and you know quite well how capable they are to handle this.

Dr. Megan Ranney, thank you so much for being here, we appreciate it.

RANNEY: Thank you.

DEAN: And still to come, a community mourns, as we were just talking about, CNN's Leigh Waldman attending a gathering there in Providence. We're going to take you there.

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The community here is heartbroken and leaning on one another. Coming up, we speak to the mayor about this ongoing investigation as officials still have not named that person of interest who's been detained.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:52:00]

DEAN: A community in mourning tonight at Brown University, of course, following yesterday's deadly shooting there. Student, Louis Allen describing the mood at tonight's gathering for the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUCE ALLEN, FRESHMAN AT BROWN UNIVERSITY: I do truthfully believe that this will inevitably make our community stronger. I know all of us are suffering right now. There's so many people, regardless of how close they were, that are scared, they're horrified. Whether it be people in the Brown Community or people in just the local providence community as a whole. But I do believe that we are going to get through this together. And seeing the response to this within the past 24 hours and seeing kind of everyone open their arms, come together, you know, bring in new people who they've never met in their lives, just because this situation is so insane. It's heartwarming and it makes me proud to be at Brown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN's Leigh Waldman is joining us now live from Providence. Leigh, we could see you talking to that student there in that clip. I know you've been talking to people all throughout the day. What are they telling you? WALDMAN: There's an overwhelming sense of grief, Jessica, in this

community. Just moments ago, before you guys came out to us, we saw two students walking down, laying flowers outside of the hall where this shooting took place. It looks like there's a growing memorial here, as people are trying to find a way to express their grief. That community, braving the cold temperatures here, what was supposed to be a joyous evening, lighting, a Christmas tree, lighting the Menorah candles that turned into a community gathering to mourn what happened, a community vigil, and people just wanted to lean on each other for strength.

I spoke with the mayor. He said it's a small but mighty state here, talking about how close everyone is. But we did ask him because our sources have identified the person of interest in this shooting, and we asked the mayor why the officials have not released that persons of interest name just yet who has been detained in all of this.

And he says that there's a logical reason behind their withholding information at this point. They said, they want to get everything in order so that they can pursue charges to make sure that they can prosecute this person once they are able to bring charges to the fullest extent of the law because of what they did here. So we know that's why they're withholding information, but that's also why were so eager to continue talking to them, hoping that they'll confirm the person's name that our sources have given us -- Jessica.

DEAN: The very latest there from Providence, thank you for your reporting.

And still ahead, we do have new details about the man in custody around that mass shooting, we were just talking about at Brown. We're going to bring that to you next. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

DEAN: You're in the CNN Newsroom. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York and tonight we are following two major breaking stories, one here at home, one abroad.

First, we do have breaking news in the investigation into the deadly shooting on Brown University's campus. Multiple sources telling CNN the person detained in connection with the shooting has now been identified as 24-year-old Benjamin Erickson of Wisconsin. Two people were killed, several others injured in that shooting tonight, the community gathering for what was originally set to be a Menorah and Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

Here's Providence Mayor Brett Smiley earlier tonight. We'll hear from him in just a little bit.

Also, thousands of miles away, a targeted shooting at Australia's Bondi Beach, which officials are describing as a terrorist attack, terrorizing Jewish people gathered together. At least 15 people were killed dozens of others injured in that attack.

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