Authorities are renewing their push for more information from the public to help figure out who killed two students and injured nine others at Brown University on Saturday.
On Wednesday, Providence, Rhode Island, police released surveillance images of a person walking past a man authorities have deemed a person of interest.
“Investigators are asking for the public’s help in identifying and speaking to the individual shown in these photos who was in proximity of the person of interest,” Providence police wrote on X in a post that included images of someone in a short blue coat and light-colored hoodie.
"This is a person we’d like to speak with," the Providence police chief, Col. Oscar Perez, said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. "They may have information relevant to the investigation."
Perez also shared a map showing the streets where authorities have confirmed sightings of a person of interest before and after the shooting.
Hundreds of officers from across nine federal and local law enforcement agencies have been intensely canvassing that area, Perez said, adding that investigators are seeking the public's help to get more video of the area from any time on the day of the shooting.
As the manhunt enters its fifth day, authorities have not yet identified a suspect.
"That person is going to get caught," Perez said. "We’re not going to stop until we find them."
Authorities have been combing through the 200 credible tips they have received, he said Tuesday.
Complicating the ongoing search is the fact that many students, faculty and staff left campus after the school canceled the remaining week of its fall semester.
Authorities shared images this week of the person of interest, which show a man they say is about 5 feet, 8 inches tall and has a stocky build.
The FBI, in coordination with Providence police and Rhode Island state police, released a video timeline Tuesday showing the man wearing a dark hat, a two-tone zippered jacket, black pants and a dark medical mask covering most of his face.
The timeline of stitched-up security video from the neighborhood surrounding the university campus shows the man walking around the area, about a block away from campus, at 2 p.m. ET — two hours before the shooting Saturday. There is also video of him walking in front of the building where the shooting happened and of him walking away from campus after the shooting. There is no video showing the person of interest entering the Barus and Holley engineering building, where the shooter opened fire.
The area of the engineering building where the shooting took place has few security cameras because it is an older part of the campus, state Attorney General Peter Neronha said Tuesday. He added that cameras from newer areas of the campus captured images of students running from the shooting.
Brian E. Clark, a spokesperson for Brown University, said in an email Wednesday that “Brown has an expansive network of security cameras, with more than 1,200 cameras installed across campus buildings and spaces in both interior and exterior locations.”
“Brown’s security cameras do not extend to every hallway, classroom, laboratory and office across the 250+ buildings on campus. For security reasons, it is not prudent to share where cameras are,” Clark wrote. “We have and will continue to provide investigators with any and all security camera footage they need.”
As the investigation continues, those who remain on campus, as well as residents of the surrounding community, are coming together to process the tragedy.
Inside St. Stephen’s Church in the heart of Brown's campus, a solemn choir accompanied about 200 people as they prayed and paid tribute to the victims of the shooting.
José Flores, a Providence resident at the candlelight vigil, told Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra he was “moved because it’s something we didn’t expect to happen here.”
“We feel very bad because it’s like a shared mourning,” Flores said in Spanish, “we’re all connected in the same heart.”
Chris Kremer, a Brown alumnus, told local TV station WCVB that “it could have been any one of us.”
Three of the nine people who were injured have been discharged from the Rhode Island Hospital, five others remain stable and one is in “critical but stable condition,” a hospital spokesperson said Wednesday evening.
Among those wounded was Spencer Yang, a first-year student and a member of Brown University's volleyball team. “After several days of care in the hospital, Spencer is now safely recovering at home with his family,” the team wrote in an Instagram post Wednesday afternoon.
The post continued: “Even after being shot, Spencer selflessly provided aid to a severely wounded classmate until first responders arrived. That is the kind of person he is. We are beyond proud of him and are wishing him a speedy recovery.”
