By KIMBERLEE KRUESI and LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Authorities knocked on doors Monday searching for any video there might be of the Brown University gunman, who could be seen in grainy footage walking away from the weekend attack that killed two students and wounded nine others.
Police renewed their search after releasing a person of interest Sunday once they determined the evidence pointed elsewhere. Meanwhile, details began to emerge about the students who were killed.
The abrupt change of direction marked a setback in the investigation of Saturday’s attack at the Ivy League school. Questions were mounting about campus security, the apparent lack of video evidence and whether the focus on the person of interest gave the killer more time to escape.
Providence residents and students were relieved when officials said they had detained a man at a Rhode Island hotel early Sunday in connection with the attack and lifted the lockdown. But that relief was short-lived when Mayor Brett Smiley said hours later that investigators didn’t know if the gunman was still in the area.
Colin Moussette, who has friends at Brown and is considering enrolling next fall, said while visiting the campus Monday that he felt uneasy knowing the suspect hadn’t been caught.
“How someone got away, like in the middle of the day is, to me, not only heartbreaking but very concerning,” he said. “How they got access to the building is concerning.”
New video emerges
Providence police on Monday released a second video showing someone dressed in all black walking along a city street minutes after the shooting. The video — like an earlier one released the day of the shooting — did not show the suspect’s face.
In a neighborhood near the university, a line of officers scraped their feet through a snow-covered yard looking for evidence. Meanwhile, agents identifying themselves as U.S. marshals asked locals if they had security cameras.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told reporters there weren’t many cameras where the shooting happened.
Law enforcement on Monday appeared to still be performing the most basic of investigative tasks: tracing the suspect’s movements in the minutes after the attack and searching for physical evidence near the crime scene.
“I was really glad to see that they were doing something,” said Katherine Baima, who lives in the area. “This is the first time any of us in my building, as far as I know, had heard from anyone. We hadn’t gotten alerts and we were really surprised that there hadn’t been anyone searching, let alone knocking on doors, on the first night.”
One of the dead was active in church. The other overcame health concerns
The shooting happened in an auditorium-style classroom where students in a study group were preparing for an upcoming exam.
Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore who was vice president of the Brown College Republicans and beloved in her church in Birmingham, Alabama, was one of the students killed, according to her pastor at home.
In announcing her death Sunday, the Rev. R. Craig Smalley described Cook as “an incredible grounded, faithful, bright light” who encouraged and “lifted up those around her.”
“Ella was known for her bold, brave, and kind heart as she served her chapter and her fellow classmates,” Martin Bertao, the president of the club, said in a message posted on X.
The other student who was killed was MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman majoring in biochemistry and neuroscience. He was helping a friend at a review session for an economics final when he was shot, his sister said.
As a child, Umurzokov suffered a neurological condition that required surgery, and he later wore a back brace because of scoliosis, said Samira Umurzokova, noting that the family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan when she, her brother and sister were young.
“He had so many hardships in his life, and he got into this amazing school and tried so hard to follow through with the promise he made when was 7 years old,” she told the AP by phone Monday.
Only one of the nine people wounded had been released as of Sunday, Brown President Christina Paxson said. One was in critical condition and the other seven were in critical but stable condition.
Durham Academy, a private K-12 school in Durham, North Carolina, confirmed that a recent graduate, Kendall Turner, was critically wounded and that her parents were with her. “Our school community is rallying around Kendall, her classmates, and her loved ones,,” the school said in a statement.
The shooting scene lacked cameras
The release of the person of interest left law enforcement without a known suspect.
“We have a murderer out there,” the state attorney general said.
Providence was no longer on lockdown and the city’s schools were open Monday. But some colleges and universities, including in Rhode Island and some Ivy League schools, were increasing security in light of the attack. Yale said extra security would be in place for Hanukkah celebrations.
Questions are raised about campus security
The shooting occurred as final exams were underway at Brown, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious schools.
Investigators were not immediately sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom.
The attack set off hours of chaos on campus and in the surrounding neighborhoods, as hundreds of officers searched for the shooter.
Li Ding, a Rhode Island School of Design student who is on a dance team at Brown, was upset that there wasn’t better security on campus.
“The fact that we’re in such a surveillance state but that wasn’t used correctly at all is just so deeply frustrating,” Ding said.
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Contributing were Associated Press journalists Jennifer McDermott and Matt O’Brien in Providence; Brian Slodysko in Washington; Michael Casey in Boston; Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; and Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas.