Victims identified; gunman remains at large : NPR

The two Brown University students killed in a shooting at the Providence, R.I. campus have been identified as MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, 18, and Ella Cook, 19, family members and officials confirmed in statements.

Umurzokov’s sister, Samira, posted a GoFundMe page confirming her brother’s death. She wrote that her brother, “was tragically taken from us in the Brown University shooting. He was incredibly kind, funny, and smart. He had big dreams of becoming a neurosurgeon and helping people. He continues to be my family’s biggest role model in all aspects.”

Umurzokov’s passing has impacted the Uzbek American community. The American Uzbekistan Association dedicated a post to Umurzokov, saying, “He had a future filled with promise, and his life was cut short far too soon. His passing has left an immeasurable void in the hearts of his family, friends, classmates, and the broader Uzbek American community.”

Cook was a sophomore from Birmingham, Ala., according to a post on X from the state’s Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth. He wrote, “Ella was a devoted Christian and a committed conservative who represented the very best of Alabama. A bright future was ended much too soon.”

Cook was vice president of the Brown College Republicans, according to a statement from Martin Bertao, president of the College Republicans of America. He wrote that Cook “was known for her bold, brave and kind heart.”

The gunman behind these killings remains at large, two days after opening fire inside an academic building. The attack injured nine others.

The outbreak of violence at the Ivy League school shocked the community, just days before students and faculty were preparing to leave for winter break.

Police release person of interest

Officials in Providence, R.I., said Sunday evening that police were releasing a 24-year-old who was briefly held as a person of interest. His release has left authorities without any known suspect.

“We have a murderer out there,” Attorney General Peter Neronha said at a news conference late Sunday.

Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley said that the latest setback in the case is “likely to cause fresh anxiety for our community.”

Authorities had arrested the man, who was staying at a hotel about 20 miles from Providence, earlier on Sunday. Neronha said there was “some degree of evidence that pointed to the individual taken into custody,” but that new evidence had moved the case “in a different direction.”

“I’ve been around long enough to know that sometimes you head in one direction and then you have to regroup and go in another and that’s exactly what has happened over the last 24 hours or so,” Neronha said.

Saturday’s attack drew messages of sympathy and well-wishes from across the state and beyond, including from President Trump, who offered his condolences to the victims and their families.

“Brown University, [is a] great school,” Trump said Sunday from the White House. “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.”

Seven of the victims were in “critical but stable” condition on Sunday, while one victim was in critical condition, according to Brown University President Christina Paxson. A ninth victim was treated at the hospital and discharged.

The shooting occurred at around 4 p.m. ET at the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building in an economics class, Paxson said, as students were taking their final exams.

“Our community is strong, and we’ll get through it,” she said in a press briefing Sunday. “But it’s devastating.”

Investigators had previously said they were searching for a suspect described as “a male dressed in black.” The suspect fled the scene on foot, but it was unclear how he entered the building, police added. Brown University Provost Francis Doyle said cards are swiped to access the building, but that there was “probably a lot of traffic” during exams.

Officials had also released a short video of a person of interest walking away from the scene of the shooting along a sidewalk, but the video did not show the person’s face.

On Sunday, Doyle said Brown would cancel almost all remaining in-person exams for the fall semester so that the university could “focus our efforts on providing care and support to the members of our community as we grapple with the sorrow, fear and anxiety that is impacting all of us right now.”

Authorities lifted a shelter-in-place order for the Brown campus and surrounding areas Sunday morning.