Brown University lifted its lockdown early on Sunday morning.
Brown University lifted its lockdown early on Sunday morning.
The person of interest detained in connection with the fatal mass shooting at Brown University is being released without charges, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said during a press conference Sunday night.
“The status of safety in our community remains unchanged, and we believe that you remain safe in our community,” Smiley said.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said during the press conference that there had been evidence pointing to this individual, but that evidence “now points in a different direction.”
The individual was initially caught at about 3:45 a.m. at a hotel in Coventry, R.I., about 28 miles south of Providence, according to law enforcement sources and Coventry police.
At the time the person was detained, the individual was allegedly in possession of two guns, according to sources.
Two people were killed and nine were injured in the shooting, according to officials.
Law enforcement sources described the person of interest as a man in his mid-20s from Wisconsin.
A key moment in the manhunt came after a witness or witnesses described a gun with a distinctive characteristic seen at the attack. Authorities recovered a gun fitting that description, along with an additional firearm, when the person of interest was detained.
Authorities are investigating whether the person has ties to Brown. The person of interest is not a student at the university, sources familiar with the situation said.
“We have detained a person of interest,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said at a Sunday-morning news conference. “We are lifting the shelter-in-place.”
During a news conference on Sunday afternoon, Col. Oscar L. Perez, Jr., chief of the Providence Police Department, declined to comment on a possible motive in the shooting, saying detectives are continuing to collect evidence and execute search warrants.
“We are working with what we have, and, obviously, we have somebody at the police station, that person of interest. And we’re going to continue to build that case in order to be able to charge that person,” Perez said.
Rhode Island law enforcement authorities said no one else is being sought in the shooting that occurred Saturday on the Ivy League campus and left two people dead and nine others injured, according to officials.
The residents of Providence can “breathe a little easier,” Smiley said.
A tip from the public led police to a Hampton Inn in Coventry, where the person of interest was detained, according to sources.
A federal source told ABC News the person was only being called a person of interest at this point, but added that they were confident they were on the right track.
Search warrants and a deep dive into the man’s background are ongoing, and officials say they are taking their time to conduct a meticulous investigation to ensure they can successfully prosecute the case.
There were heavy efforts on Sunday to continue canvassing the area in and around Brown for additional video from security and cell phone cameras.
Authorities are expected to conduct urgent traces of the firearms and examine ballistic evidence recovered from the scene, including shell casings, in the coming hours and days, sources say.
Before the person was detained, the FBI and other law enforcement officials shared a short video clip of someone whom they described as a person of interest. The individual in the clip is seen dressed in dark clothing, including what appeared to be a hood, as they walk along Hope Street and take a corner heading north.
The person’s right hand appeared to be in their jacket pocket as they walked northward along Waterman Street before exiting from the frame.
The person was detained hours after the mass shooting on Saturday on the school’s East Side campus. The injured victims were transported to local hospitals amid a day of “devastating gun violence,” Christina H. Paxson, the university’s president, said in a statement posted just prior to 2 a.m. ET.
“Our hearts go out to them. This is a day of tremendous sorrow,” Paxson said. “No parent or family member should ever have to endure a day like this.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on Sunday on X that the FBI helped locate the person of interest by activating the bureau’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team “to provide critical geolocation capabilities” after getting a lead from the Providence Police Department.
“As a result, early this morning, [the] FBI’s Boston’s Safe Streets Task Force, with assistance from the @USMarshalsHQ and the @Coventry_RI_PD detained a person of interest in a hotel room in Coventry, RI, based off a lead by the @ProvidenceRIPD,” Patel said in the post.
Eight of the nine who had been injured remained in the hospital on Sunday afternoon, officials said, adding that six of them were in critical but stable condition, one was in critical and one was stable.
During Sunday afternoon’s news conference, Smiley said he spent the morning at the hospital visiting injured students.
“When I was at the hospital today, one of the students that showed tremendous courage literally said to me, ‘You know that active shooter drill they made me do in high school actually helped me in the moment,'” Smiley said.
He added that the conversation with the injured student was both hopeful and sad. “We shouldn’t have to do active shooter drills, but it helped and the reason it helps and the reason we do these drills is because it’s so damn frequent,” Smiley said.
A shelter-in-place order that had been put into effect for the university’s College Hill campus was lifted early Sunday by Providence Police, the school said in a 5:42 a.m. ET alert to students, adding that “police activity continues in areas that are still considered an active crime scene.”
The gunfire erupted on Saturday as students across the College Hill area were getting ready for or taking exams ahead of the winter break.
The shooting took place at the school’s Barus & Holley building, where engineering and physics classes are held, on Hope Street, officials said.
The shooting occurred in a lecture hall during a final exam review, according to Paxson.
Brown student Ref Bari told ABC News that he was inside the Barus & Holley building when the shooting broke out.
“The shots rang out behind me,” Bari said.
Bari said he had just wrapped up a meeting with other students for a school project and was walking down a staircase to the first floor. He said he heard six or seven pops, but didn’t immediately recognize the noises as gunfire, saying, “I’ve never heard anything like that in my life.”
“I glanced behind me very quickly and the lobby of Barus & Holley was empty, or so it seemed,” Bari said. “In front of me, the ERC [Engineering Research Center], the like commons area of Barus & Holley is full with about a hundred students.”
Bari said people were initially oblivious to the commotion, describing students as wearing headphones while prepping for final exams and projects.
“So, I’m thinking in that split second, ‘Ok, maybe I misheard something. And then it just rings out, like pop, pop, pop again,” Bari said. “And then I don’t look back. I just run as fast as I can.”
When people in the commons area started realizing what was happening, they all started to rush for one of two exits, Bari said.
“So, imagine a hundred kids trying to rush out through two exits,” Bari said.
He said he didn’t notice anyone screaming or panicking: “It’s just silence and gunshots behind us,” Bari said.
Bari said that when he got outside, he called his parents as he continued to run across the street to the science library.
“Folks coming out of the science building had no idea what was going on. So, as I was running, I started shouting, ‘Active shooter! Run!'” Bari said.
He said he was planning to run to his apartment, but ran into a friend who invited him and other students into her apartment to shelter in place.
“We hid in her bathroom for like two hours, four of us in a small bathroom for two hours,” Bari said. “And it was terrifying, but I think, thanks to her, I’m alive right now.”
ABC News’ Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.