PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Hundreds of police officers have been swarming the Brown University campus along with nearby neighborhoods and searching for video in the hunt for a shooter who opened fire in a classroom, killing two people and wounding nine others.
The search was renewed late into the night, well after the shooting broke out Saturday afternoon in the engineering building of the Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island, during final exams.
A surveillance video released by the police shows the suspect, dressed in black, calmly leaving the scene. His face is not visible and investigators said it was unclear if the suspect is a student.
The suspect was last seen leaving the engineering building and some witnesses told police the suspect, who may be in his 30s, may have been wearing a camouflage mask, Providence Deputy Police Chief Timothy O’Hara said.
University President Christina Paxson said she was told that 10 people who were shot were students. Another person was injured by shrapnel from the shooting but it was not clear if the victim was a student, she said.
The search for the shooter has paralyzed the campus, nearby neighborhoods filled with stately brick homes and downtown Rhode Island’s capital city. The streets normally bustling with weekend activity were eerily quiet.
Students shelter in place for hours into the night. Officers in tactical gear led the students out of some campus buildings and into a fitness center where they waited. Others arrived at the shelter on buses without jackets or any belongings.
The mayor advised people to stay at home
Investigators were not immediately sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom. The outer doors of the building were opened but the rooms being used for final exams required badge access, said Providence Mayor Brett Smiley.
He urged people living near the campus to stay indoors or not return home until a shelter-in-place order is lifted.
“The heart of the Brown community is breaking and the heart of Providence is breaking along with it,” said Smiley.
Authorities believe the shooter used a gun, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Democratic Governor Dan McKee promised that all resources were being deployed to capture the suspect. Rhode Island has some of the strictest gun laws in the United States
Nine people with gunshot wounds were taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where one was in critical condition. Six needed intensive care but were not getting worse and two were stable, hospital spokeswoman Kelly Brennan said.
Exams were going on during the shooting
Engineering design exams were underway when the shooting occurred in the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department. The building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices, according to the university’s website.
Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the lobby of the building working on a final project when she heard loud pops coming from the east side. Once she realized they were gunshots, she ran to the door and ran to a nearby building where she took shelter for several hours.
The former ‘Survivor’ contestant has just left the building
Eva Erickson, a doctoral candidate who was the runner-up earlier this year on the CBS reality competition show “Survivor,” said she left her lab in the engineering building 15 minutes before the shots rang out.
The engineering and thermal science student shared candid moments on “Survivor” as the show’s first contestant openly. She was locked in the campus gym after the shooting and shared on social media that the only other member of her lab present had safely evacuated.
Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm directly across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside.
“I’m just here to shake,” he said, as he watched from the window as armed officers surrounded his dorm.
Students hid under the desks
Students in a nearby lab turned off the lights and hid under desks after being alerted to the shooting, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral engineering student who was about a block away from the scene.
Mari Camara, 20, a young woman from New York City, was leaving the library and ran inside a taqueria to seek shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting friends while police searched the campus.
“Everyone is the same as me, shocked and scared that something like this happened,” she said.
Brown, the seventh oldest institution of higher education in the United States, is one of the nation’s most prestigious colleges with approximately 7,300 students and more than 3,000 graduate students. Tuition, housing and other fees add up to nearly $100,000 a year, according to the university.
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Associated Press reporters Alanna Durkin Richer, Mike Balsamo and Seung Min Kim in Washington, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City, Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, Martha Bellisle in Seattle and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.