Person of interest arrested in Brown University mass shooting

Person of interest arrested in Brown University mass shooting

Christopher Shea

Sun, December 14, 2025 at 4:00 PM UTC

3 min read

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Google Maps shows the location of the 'Brown University shooting' at the Barus and Holley engineering building on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. Police announced they identified and apprehended a person of interest early Sunday morning. (Google images)

The shelter in place order on the Brown University campus was lifted early this morning after the arrest of a person of interest in connection with Saturday’s mass shooting that killed two students and injured nine others.

More to come

Authorities say they will provide another update at a noon press conference.

“The people of Providence should breathe a little easier this morning,” Mayor Brett Smiley said at a 7 a.m. press conference at the Brook Street fire station near the Brown campus. “The investigation with regard to the individual who has been detained is very much ongoing and in the middle of it right now, but we’re providing this update specifically so that the people of Providence can breathe a little easier this morning.”

But police activity will continue in Barus and Holley Engineering Building and the surrounding area that is still considered an active crime scene, according to officials.

Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez declined to share any details about the person in custody or where they were arrested, citing the ongoing investigation into the shooting. All he’d noted was that the person was in their 30s.

WPRI-12 reported that the person was taken into custody without issue at 3:45 a.m. at the Hampton Inn and Suites on Center of New England Boulevard in Coventry. The town’s police department did not immediately respond to request for comment.

A woman who answered the phone at the Hampton Inn said she could not give out any information at this time. “We are working with law enforcement,” she said.

Perez told reporters detectives are now collecting evidence and conducting interviews as part of the investigation.

“From there, we’ll be able to, when it’s appropriate and accurate, to share more details with you all,” he said.

Gov. Dan McKee told reporters the Rhode Island State Police will remain on alert to provide a “sense of calmness in the state.”

“The state of Rhode Island is in shock,” McKee said.

Of the nine students who were injured and taken to hospital Saturday, seven were in a stable condition, one was in critical but stable condition, and another had been released, Smiley said.

University President Christina Paxson said Sunday morning the shooting happened inside a classroom where an exam review for an economics class was underway. The Providence Fire department was first alerted about the shooting at 4:05 p.m.

Brown sent out its first emergency alert at 4:22 p.m., noting “an active shooter near Barus & Holley Engineering.”

All remaining undergraduate and graduate exams, medical classes, papers and projects for the rest of the fall 2025 semester have since been canceled, Provost Francis J. Doyle III wrote in an update to students at 8:24 a.m.

“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.

Paxson said a couple of thousand students were transported overnight by law enforcement from locations within a police perimeter to an evacuation site in the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center. “We prioritized getting those students to a place where they could rest and receive any necessary resources,” she wrote in a university update. “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.”

The Rhode Island Blood Center put out a call for blood donations.

“Hospitals rely on a ready supply during emergencies,” the Center posted to X.

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