Providence, R.I. — The Brown University community is still reeling after a horrific mass shooting on campus that left two students dead and nine others wounded, with no suspect yet in custody and investigators racing against time to bring answers to a grieving campus and city.
It was a quiet Saturday afternoon during final exam week when a gunman walked into the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building and opened fire inside a classroom filled with students preparing for an economics exam. The attack, which came just after 4 p.m., shook the Ivy League community to its core and launched an intense manhunt that has stretched into its fifth day.
The victims were identified as 19‑year‑old Ella Cook, a sophomore from Birmingham, Alabama and vice president of Brown’s College Republicans chapter, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, a freshman from Virginia who came to the United States from Uzbekistan and dreamed of becoming a neurosurgeon. Friends and faculty remember Cook for her leadership and warm spirit, and Umurzokov as a dedicated student with a gentle presence who touched many lives.
Nine others were wounded in the chaos that erupted inside Room 166 of the crowded building. Early hospital reports showed that several victims were in critical or critical‑but‑stable condition in the days after the shooting, while a few have since been discharged.
Providence police, joined by the FBI and state law enforcement, have released multiple surveillance videos and enhanced images of a person of interest believed to be the shooter — a masked figure in dark clothing seen walking through residential streets near campus hours before the violence. Authorities have described him as about 5′8″ with a stocky build and are urging area residents to check doorbell camera footage that might help identify him. A $50,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to his arrest and conviction.
In a string of developments, a person briefly detained earlier in the investigation was cleared and released, amplifying anxiety among students, families and neighbors who remain on edge as police probe every lead. No motive has been confirmed, and officials have been cautious about speculation while promising that the investigation is active and that the community remains a priority.
The violence prompted Brown University to cancel remaining in‑person classes and final exams, and thousands of students were relocated to safe housing in the immediate aftermath. On campus and throughout Providence, memorials of flowers, candles and notes have sprung up, and tributes continue pouring in for the two lost lives as friends, classmates, and community leaders grapple with shock, sorrow and a shared desire for answers.
