Brown University shooting live updates: ‘Person of interest’ detained after 2 dead and 9 injured in attack – UK Times

A “person of interest” in the Brown University mass shooting was detained at hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island, early Sunday morning, officials said.

“The people of Providence should breathe a little easier this morning,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said at a Sunday press conference.

Graig Graziosi reports…

Providence officials announced on Sunday evening that the investigation into the mass shooting at Brown University “remains active and ongoing.”

More information will be provided as officials obtain “a clearer and more complete picture of the circumstances involved,” Providence Chief Public Information Officer for Public Safety Kristy DosReis said in statement released at 7:58 p.m.

Amith Chintalapati, a junior at Brown University, told NBC News that he was walking on campus yesterday when he saw victims of the mass shooting on the street.

“I saw some people huddled on the ground, and I realized that two people got shot and had made their way to the street, and people were applying pressure and trying to keep them from bleeding out,” he told the outlet on Sunday.

He said one of the victims was a classmate of his and that he rushed to assist.

“I just kept telling him he was OK and to breathe and just wait for the EMTs to arrive,” Chintalapati said.

Soon after, police arrived and instructed him to take shelter. He hid out in a dorm room for about eight hours and was informed around midnight that his classmate was in stable condition in the hospital.

Federal agents were observed at a home tied to Benjamin Erickson, a 24-year-old Wisconsin man, who is a person of interest in the mass shooting at Brown University, according to the Providence Journal.

Agents were seen at the home, located in Cedarburg, around 4 p.m. on Sunday.

A Democratic senator who was a champion of gun reforms in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting in his state blamed Donald Trump on Sunday for encouraging a “dizzying” campaign of violence, hours after authorities announced that a person of interest was apprehended for a mass shooting at Brown University.

The Rhode Island Blood Center, a non-profit blood donation organization, said it has received an “outpouring of support” following the mass shooting at Brown University on Saturday.

“Thank you, Providence,” the organization said in a statement on Sunday evening. “Because of the incredible outpouring of support from our community, the Providence Donor Center will close today at 6:00 PM. Thank you to every donor and community member who stepped up today — your compassion and generosity mean everything.”

Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat, called for an end to the “epidemic” of gun violence following the mass shooting at Brown University.

“From Columbine, to Sandy Hook, to yesterday’s tragic shooting in Providence, too many of our communities have been shattered by senseless gun violence,” Crow wrote on X on Sunday evening. “It shouldn’t be normal. It can’t be normal. We have to fight every day to keep our kids safe and end this epidemic.”

Benjamin Erickson, the man whom law enforcement sources have told the Washington Post, is the person of interest detained by authorities, was in the U.S. Army from 2021 until 2024, according to records.

Erickson, 24, served as an infantryman for three years. His service ended in November 2024.

Officials have not publicly identified Erickson as the person of interest. The Providence police chief and Mayor Smiley have said they will not identify the person of interest until all evidence has been gathered and they are ready to pursue charges.

More than 200 people in the Providence and Brown University community gathered in Lippitt Memorial Park this evening to remember the two students who were killed and nine other injured in a shooting.