• As the manhunt for the Brown University mass shooter enters its sixth day, the police chief in Providence, Rhode Island, has asked the public for help identifying someone seen in a photo crossing paths with the person of interest in the case.
• Authorities also released a map showing streets where the person of interest was in the hours before and immediately after Saturday’s attack.
• An early focus on a different person of interest, now cleared in the probe, may have delayed the investigation by up to a day. And limited school security camera footage around the building at the edge of campus where the attack unfolded has spurred questions, including from the White House.
• The shooting left two students dead and nine injured at the Ivy League school, where classes and exams have been canceled. At least 75 school shootings have unfolded this year in the United States.
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The Providence community, most notably students, poured into local blood donation centers on Saturday in an “immediate and deeply moving” response in the hours following the deadly shooting at Brown University, according to the Rhode Island Blood Center.
“Students walked through snow, rerouted themselves to other donor centers, and even chose triple platelet donations when they learned how their blood types would help patients the most,” a spokesperson for the center told CNN.
On Sunday, the center collected 330 units of blood, more than three times its typical Sunday volume, and since then, more than 2,000 appointments, double its usual volume, were made, the spokesperson said.
“That immediate surge helped stabilize the blood supply at a critical moment and ensured hospitals had what they needed,” the spokesperson noted.
Many people also donated for the first time, with the Rhode Island Blood Center welcoming nearly 400 first-time donors in the three days immediately following the attack, according to the center.
Providence police on Wednesday released a map showing the streets where the person of interest in the fatal Brown University shooting was on the day of the incident.
The map, released on X, show streets marked in one particular color to indicate where footage confirms the person walked hours before the shooting, police said.
Streets marked in a different color show locations where footage confirms the person was present immediately after the shooting.
A larger, highlighted area shows where investigators still are searching for footage from the day of the shooting, police said.
As the search for the Brown University gunman stretches into another day without an arrest, investigators say community cooperation is key to solving the case.
“It is a very intense investigation, and I think it’s going to take public assistance,” Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez said at a news conference yesterday.
“It’s going to take 21st century policing involving technology, but it’s also going to take good old-fashioned police work, which is knocking on doors, going through yards,” Perez said.
That appeal to the public now includes reviewing security cameras footage from before the shooting, as detectives believe the suspect may have been in the area earlier than initially thought.
Suspects often scout locations in advance, Perez said, emphazising the importance of reviewing video footage. “They do case the areas. They do a lot of prior checking for their crime,” he said. “We truly believe that possibly he was there prior as well. And so we want to make sure that we don’t miss anything.”
Police have previously asked for the public’s help in identifying the person of interest seen in newly released videos. They have also urged residents, including those with camera‑equipped vehicles like Teslas, to share any additional footage dating back “at least a week.”
Authorities are still looking for the person responsible for fatally shooting two people and injuring nine others at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, over the weekend.
They are asking for the public’s help to identify a person of interest as well as a person who may have crossed paths with that person. Police also released a map showing where the person of interest was seen on the day of the shooting.
Here’s what we know about the ongoing investigation:
- Investigators not discouraged: The search for the shooter entered its fifth day, but authorities are not discouraged, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. Law enforcement officials won’t stop searching until they capture the shooting suspect, Providence Police Chief Oscar L. Perez Jr. said.
- Affiliation of person of interest unknown: It is still unknown if the person of interest in the case is affiliated with the university, Perez said.
- Eyewitness accounts of shooter match description of person of interest police are seeking: Eyewitness accounts of the gunman involved in shooting at Brown University match the description of the person of interest police are seeking in connection with the incident, Perez said.
- Students were studying when shooting happened: A study session was happening in the classroom where the shooting happened, Brown University Provost Francis Doyle said. This means students weren’t required to sign in, so it is taking longer than usual for officials to piece together what students were attending, he said.