Updated December 14, 2025 at 2:04 PM EST
Two people have been killed and nine wounded after a shooting at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday afternoon, officials said.
At a Sunday morning press conference, Mayor Brett P. Smiley said he could confirm police had detained a "person of interest."
Police said they could not release many details about the man arrested. However, police officer Col. Oscar Perez, chief of the Providence police, confirmed at the news conference that he is in his 30s.
Authorities had been searching for a suspect described as "a male dressed in black," Deputy Police Chief Timothy O'Hara said during a Saturday evening press conference.
Brown authorities said local police advice to shelter in place has ended for the entire campus early Sunday, but some areas remain off limits as active crime scenes.
The shooting took place around 4 p.m. ET Saturday outside the Barus and Holley building, which houses the School of Engineering and Physics Department. Brown University Provost Francis Doyle said final exams were taking place in the building at the time of the shooting.
The suspect fled by foot, exiting the doors on the Hope Street side of the building, O'Hara said, but that it's unclear how he entered. Police also released a short video of the suspected shooter leaving the building where the shooting took place, which, the mayor said, does not show his face.
The two deceased victims died at the scene, said the city's fire department Chief Derek Silva. An additional eight wounded victims were being treated at Rhode Island Hospital, about two miles away from the university campus.
Mayor Smiley had announced at a Saturday evening press conference that one more person injured in the shooting was identified. The ninth injured person left the scene and did not suffer a gunshot wound directly but was injured by a "fragment," the mayor said, adding that their injury is "non-life threatening." It is unclear if the ninth victim was hospitalized.
Sunday morning, Smiley said that of the nine people wounded in the shooting, seven remain in stable condition, one is in critical but stable condition, and one other has been discharged from the hospital.
Brown University President Christina Paxson confirmed at a press briefing late Saturday night that at least 10 of the 11 people shot were students.
Final exams at Brown have been canceled.
President Trump said Saturday night that he'd been briefed on the shooting.
According to the Gun Violence Archive's school shooting tracker, there have been 43 shootings on college and university campuses in 2025 that resulted in a casualty.
"What a terrible thing it is," the president told reporters in brief remarks. "All we can do right now is pray for the victims."
Asked about campus security, Provost Doyle said at the news conference that cards are swiped to access the building but that there was "probably a lot of traffic" during the exams he said took place between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
"We're utilizing every resource possible to find the suspect," O'Hara said.
The university, police and the FBI are coordinating in the active investigation, said Providence Mayor Brett Smiley.
"Sadly, today is a day that the city of Providence and the state of Rhode Island prayed would never come," Smiley told reporters.
City and university police are encouraging witnesses to come forward with any information related to the investigation.
There had been confusion earlier in the day about whether or not the shooter was in custody. Brown officials, followed by media reports as well as President Trump, initially said that a suspect was in custody, later announcing that was not accurate.
"While [Brown University's department of public safety] was at one point informed that there was an individual in custody, that person was determined not to be the shooting suspect after questioning," the university said in a Saturday night update through its emergency alert system.
Authorities have not yet provided details about the identities of the victims, nor the suspect, if known. But Brown officials described the two people who died as community members, and said they are working with local hospitals to identify the other known victims.
It urged its students and faculty to remain vigilant and heed the shelter-in-place order in effect. "This means keeping all doors locked and ensuring no movement across campus," it said.
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