Ivy League school sends students home, cancels finals after deadly campus shooting, ETEducation
Brown University has sent students home and cancelled final exams, classes and assignments for the fall semester after two students were killed and nine others were injured in a shooting on campus on Saturday. The Ivy League university took the decision as it mourns its first mass shooting incident and as police continue to investigate the attack.
Snow covered the campus and parts of Providence on Sunday as students and staff dealt with the aftermath. The shooting happened during the second day of final exams, inside the Barus & Holley engineering building, where students were attending a study session. The university issued an active shooter alert around 4:20 pm New York time and ordered a campus-wide lockdown.
Two students died and nine were injured, officials said. One injured person remains in critical but stable condition, while the others are stable. Authorities have not released the names of the victims, saying families are still being notified.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said the impact of the incident will last a long time. “There’s going to be many days, months, or I’m not sure how long, of both healing, but also moments to advocate for what might need to change,” he said. “I won’t be shy about sharing what I think needs to be done to make my community safer, but I’m not doing that today.”
Police detained a person of interest early Sunday. He was identified by a person familiar with the arrest as Benjamin Erickson, 24. Police have not charged him and have not confirmed his identity publicly. FBI Director Kash Patel said on social media that the arrest took place at a hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island, about 20 miles from Providence.
Students described hours of fear as they sheltered in place. Gunnar S., a freshman from Virginia, said he skipped the study session where the shooting occurred. He said many students fled without their phones, leaving friends worried for hours. Gunnar said he hid under his bed with his roommate until 3 am and now wants to leave campus because he does not feel safe.
Another student, Benjamin, a junior at Brown, said he and his housemates barricaded themselves in a room near the engineering building and stayed there until midnight. On Sunday, he was packing his car to leave for his grandparents’ home before travelling to Kentucky.
The lockdown was lifted on Sunday. Brown University President Christina Paxson said the community was grieving. “We continue to be in mourning as a community about the tragic loss of life,” she said. “I am deeply moved by all the students who opened their homes and their arms to welcome friends into their dorms and other residences while we transported others to local hotels.”
Provost Francis J. Doyle III said all remaining in-person exams for the fall semester are cancelled, except for the medical school and MBA programme. Students can choose to accept grades based on work already submitted or switch to a “satisfactory/no credit” option. They may still submit final papers or projects. Doyle also said students are free to leave campus if they can, while essential staff must remain.
“In the immediate aftermath of these devastating events, we recognize that learning and assessment are significantly hindered in the short term and that many students and others will wish to depart campus,” Doyle wrote. “Students are free to leave if they are able. Students who remain will have access to on-campus services and support.”
Brown’s campus will stay open until December 22, and three dining halls will continue to operate normally.
Outside the campus, families and alumni reacted with shock. Brown trustee and Citadel Securities president Jim Esposito wrote on LinkedIn that his son was meant to be in the classroom where the shooting happened. “That reality cuts deeply,” he wrote.
NBC reported that a firearm with a unique feature was recovered when the person of interest was detained, though Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez Jr. did not confirm this. Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee said there was an “all-out search” involving multiple agencies and that he had spoken with President Donald Trump and the FBI.
Trump referred to the victims during a White House event on Sunday. “I want to just pay my respects to the people, unfortunately, two are no longer with us at Brown University, nine injured, and two are looking down on us right now from heaven,” he said. “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 from the United States of America.”
Officials said the building’s external doors were unlocked at the time of the shooting. Rhode Island has one of the lowest firearm death rates in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The last deadly mass shooting in the state was in 2013, and Providence had recorded only two homicides this year before Saturday.
“I don’t know of a time something like this has ever happened in Providence,” Smiley said. “When you live in a town like this, you don’t think this is going to happen even as you prepare for it.”
with inputs from agencies
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