The manhunt for a gunman who killed two people and injured nine at Brown University entered its fourth day on Tuesday, as students who were on campus during the shooting recalled a pervasive sense of unease amid the lockdown.
Police in Providence, Rhode Island, where the university is located, continued to search for the suspect. Authorities said they had detained a “person of interest” on Sunday but later released the individual.
Rhode Island is among the states with the lowest violent crime rates in the United States, according to FBI data. Yet, figures from the Gun Violence Archive show that the attack was the country’s 393rd mass shooting this year.
Four days after the incident, the campus had gradually resumed normal operations, while students held a vigil in remembrance of those killed: Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, a freshman from Uzbekistan, and Ella Cook, a sophomore from Alabama and vice-president of the university’s Republican club.
The school has partially reopened, but many students said they remain uneasy about campus safety.
Zico, a graduate student at Brown University who declined to give his last name, said he was inside the same building where the shooting took place, working in a laboratory at the time.
“My first reaction was repeatedly weighing whether to run or hide,” he said. “I pushed some office chairs around the door as a barrier, hid under a desk and stayed completely silent while waiting for the police to arrive.”
He said he received the emergency alert shortly after 4 pm. Police later escorted him to a secured classroom around 5 pm, moved him to a gym at about 7 pm, and he was not able to return home until midnight.
“More than fear, what I felt was frustration,” Zico said. “It’s been days and the suspect still hasn’t been caught. There seem to be very few leads for investigation.”
He said he hopes the university will strengthen campus security and that the country’s gun problem needs to be addressed more seriously.
Bella Wang, another Brown University student, said the violence on campus was scary.
She recalled arriving on campus to work on a final project with classmates in the computer science building, located between the library and the engineering building, where the shooting occurred.
Wang said they were initially in the first-floor lobby near the entrance when they realized the shooting was nearby and that the shooter might have passed through the building. They took an elevator to the third floor, found a classroom and locked themselves inside, remaining there for five to six hours before police began clearing the building and evacuating those inside.
“At first, I couldn’t believe it was happening,” Wang said. “Even an hour or two later, we still thought maybe nothing had actually happened.”
The shooting shocked many students, she said. “School is supposed to be a safe place. Now I don’t really feel comfortable going out.”
Unease lingers amid search for Brown University gunman
