A gunman opened fire inside a Brown University academic building Saturday afternoon as students were gathered to take their final exams, killing two students and injuring nine others.
Officials in Providence, R.I., said Sunday morning that police had detained a man in his 20s as a person of interest. A source familiar with the investigation, who was not authorized to speak publicly, identified the person of interest as Benjamin Erickson. Authorities have not released any other details about him or a potential motive.
The outbreak of violence at the Ivy League school shocked the community, just days before students and faculty were preparing to leave for winter break, said Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley.
"I think maybe intellectually we knew it could happen anywhere, including here," Smiley said at a Sunday morning press conference, "but that's not the same as it happening in our community."
The attack drew messages of sympathy and well-wishes from across the state and beyond, including from President Trump, who offered his condolences to the victims and their families.
"Brown University, [is a] great school," Trump said Sunday from the White House. "To the nine injured, get well fast, and to the families of those two that are no longer with us, I pay my deepest regards and respects."
Seven of the victims were in "critical but stable" condition on Sunday, while one victim was in critical condition, according to Brown University President Christina Paxson. A ninth victim was treated at the hospital and discharged.
The shooting occurred at around 4 p.m. ET at the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building in an economics class, Paxson said.
"Our community is strong, and we'll get through it," she said in a press briefing Sunday. "But it's devastating."
Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said Sunday that investigators were not actively looking for anyone else but that the investigation was ongoing.
Law enforcement detained the person of interest Sunday morning in a hotel room in Coventry, about 20 miles southwest of Brown, based on a lead by the Providence Police, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X.
Investigators had previously said they were searching for a suspect described as "a male dressed in black." The suspect fled the scene on foot, but it was unclear how he entered the building, police added. Brown University Provost Francis Doyle said cards are swiped to access the building but that there was "probably a lot of traffic" during exams.
Officials had also released a short video of a person of interest walking away from the scene of the shooting along a sidewalk, but the video did not show the person's face.
On Sunday, Doyle said Brown would cancel almost all remaining in-person exams for the fall semester so that the university could "focus our efforts on providing care and support to the members of our community as we grapple with the sorrow, fear and anxiety that is impacting all of us right now."
Authorities lifted a shelter-in-place order for the Brown campus and surrounding areas Sunday morning.
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