On the evening of December 13, a mass shooting at Brown University left two students dead and nine wounded, turning a campus exam session into a crisis.
Shooting at Brown University
The gunman entered a first-floor classroom in the Barus & Holley engineering building and fired more than 40 rounds from a 9-mm handgun, according to police. The attack occurred during final-exam sessions, when the building was full of students and faculty. The building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and the physics department, had outer doors unlocked but rooms used for exams required badge access. Investigators have not yet recovered a firearm but found two loaded 30-round magazines. The shooting left two students dead and wounded nine others; one of the wounded has since been released from the hospital, while seven remain in critical but stable condition and one is in critical condition.
Investigation and Custody
Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, said that the person in custody was in their 20s and that investigators were not searching for anyone else but that no one has been charged yet. He declined to say whether the detained person had any connection to Brown. The suspect was taken into custody at a Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island, about 20 miles from Providence. Police and FBI agents remained Sunday, blocking off a hallway with crime-scene tape as they searched the area. Authorities have not yet released a motive for the attack.
Campus Response
Brown University canceled all remaining classes, exams, papers and projects for the semester and told students they were free to leave campus. President Christina Paxson spoke at an afternoon news conference, describing her conversations with students both on campus and in the hospital. “They are amazing and they’re supporting each other,” she said. “There’s just a lot of gratitude.” The university’s lockdown stretched into the night, and the campus was under a shelter-in-place order as officers searched for the shooter.
Community and Leadership
Mayor Brett Smiley invited residents to gather Sunday evening in a city park where an event had been scheduled to light a Christmas tree and a Hanukkah menorah. “For those who know at least a bit of the Hanukkah story, it is quite clear that if we can come together as a community to shine a little bit of light tonight, there’s nothing better that we can be doing,” he told reporters. Smiley said he visited some of the wounded students and was inspired by their courage, hope and gratitude. “The resilience that these survivors showed and shared with me is frankly pretty overwhelming,” he said. “We’re all saddened, scared, tired, but what they’ve been through is something different entirely.”
Witness Accounts
Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops coming from the east side. Once she realized they were gunshots, she darted for the door and ran to a nearby building where she waited for hours. In the hours that followed, students in a nearby lab turned off the lights and hid under desks after receiving an alert about the shooting. Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering, said he was about a block away from the scene and that he hid under a desk for more than three hours while police searched the campus. Mari Camara, 20, a junior from New York City, was coming out of the library and rushed inside a taqueria to seek shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting friends while police searched the campus.
Survivor Stories
Eva Erickson, a doctoral candidate who was the runner-up earlier this year on the CBS reality competition show “Survivor,” left her lab in the engineering building 15 minutes before shots rang out. The engineering and thermal science student shared candid moments on “Survivor” as the show’s first openly autistic contestant. She was locked down in the campus gym following the shooting and shared on social media that the only other member of her lab who was present was safely evacuated. Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm directly across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside. “I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as armed officers surrounded his dorm.
The Building and Security
Investigators were not immediately sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom at the Barus & Holley building. The building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices, according to the university’s website. Outer doors of the building were unlocked but rooms being used for final exams required badge access, Smiley said. The building’s security protocols were questioned as the shooting occurred during one of the busiest moments of the academic calendar.
Community Impact
One student of the nine wounded students had been released from the hospital, said Paxson. Seven others were in critical but stable condition and one was in critical condition. The shooting prompted a heavier police presence throughout Providence, and many area businesses announced Sunday that they would remain closed. A scheduled 5K run was postponed until next weekend.
Law Enforcement Presence
Members of the FBI Evidence Response Team worked at the scene near a body, collecting evidence and marking the area with evidence markers at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during a mass shooting that at least killed two people and wounded eight others. The photo was taken by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images. Police officers and FBI agents remained Sunday, blocking off a hallway with crime-scene tape as they searched the area.
Key Takeaways
- Two students were killed and nine were wounded in a shooting that occurred during final exams at Brown University.
- A suspect in his 20s was taken into custody at a hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island, but no motive or charges have been released.
- The university canceled all remaining classes, and President Christina Paxson highlighted the community’s gratitude and support for the wounded.
The shooting has left the Providence community in shock, with police and FBI teams continuing to investigate the incident while students and faculty grapple with the aftermath. Brown University and city officials are working together to provide support and ensure safety as the investigation proceeds.
