More than 400 law enforcement officers have been deployed as police search for a suspect in a shooting at Brown University in the US state of Rhode Island that left two students dead and nine others wounded at the prestigious educational institution, officials said, Reuters reported.
Providence University remained on lockdown for hours after a suspect, armed with a firearm, entered a building where students were taking exams.
Officials do not believe there is a "specific, ongoing threat" from the suspect, Providence Mayor Brett Smalley said late Saturday, but as law enforcement agencies search the area and conduct a manhunt, a shelter-in-place order for the campus and surrounding neighborhood remains in effect for now.
"The shelter-in-place order allows (law enforcement) to do their job in the first phase of the investigation," Smalij said.
The streets around the campus were packed with emergency vehicles, and security was beefed up across the city as law enforcement agencies searched for the shooter, who has not yet been identified, officials said. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are also participating in the investigation, along with local and state police.
Officials released a video of the suspect, a man believed to be in his 30s, dressed in black. Providence Deputy Police Chief Timothy O'Hara said it was possible he was wearing a mask, but officials were not certain.
Investigators collected shell casings from the shooting scene, but police are not yet ready to release details, O'Hara said.
The gunman fled after shooting students in a classroom in the Barrus and Holly engineering building, where the exterior door was unlocked while exams were in progress, officials said. Detectives are investigating why the location was targeted, Police Chief Oscar Perez told reporters at a news conference.
All or almost all of the victims were students, Brown University President Christina Paxson told reporters.
"This is the day you hope will never happen, and it did," Paxson said.
Seven of the nine wounded are in critical condition, according to health system data.
Brown University has hundreds of buildings, including amphitheaters, laboratories and dormitories. The suspect is believed to have fled, according to local officials, along a street that is normally lined with restaurants and cafes.
Hours under the bench
As news of the shooting spread, the school ordered students to stay in shelters.
Brown student Chiang-Heng Chien told a local TV station that he was working in a lab with three other students when he saw a message about an active shooter a block away. They waited under their desks for about two hours, he said.
Rhode Island Governor Daniel Mackie said the attacker would be brought to justice.
"We will make sure we catch the person who caused so much suffering to so many people," he said.
The search for the suspect was further complicated by crowds of shoppers and thousands of people attending concerts and events Saturday night, local officials told reporters. Federal law enforcement and police from surrounding cities and municipalities were assisting in the search, officials said. According to local media, facilities across the city have deployed additional security.
Police reviewed video footage and called on witnesses and other citizens to provide information in the search for the suspect.
"Some tips have been coming in. We've been checking them out. So far, none have given us a result," O'Hara said.
United States President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that he had been briefed on the situation, which he called "terrible."
"All we can do now is pray for the victims and for those who are very badly injured," Trump said.
Compared to many countries, mass shootings in schools, workplaces and places of worship are more common in the United States, which has some of the most liberal gun laws in the developed world. The Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as incidents in which four or more people are shot, has recorded 389 such incidents in the United States this year, including at least six at schools.
There were more than 500 mass shootings in the US last year, according to that archive.
"I'm numb, but I'm even more furious," Brown sophomore Zoe Wiseman told Reuters.
Weissman testified before state lawmakers in support of an assault weapons ban, speaking about her experience as a high school student in Parkland, Florida, where a gunman killed 17 students and teachers and wounded others in 2018.
"I'm shocked, but I'm not surprised," she said.
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