NEED TO KNOW
- The man taken into custody on Sunday in relation to the mass shooting at Brown University on Saturday that killed two and injured nine has been released by police
- Officials said that person is no longer a person of interest. Authorities are still looking for the man dressed in black seen in a video released late Saturday night
- The man who entered a classroom on the school’s Providence campus Dec. 13 and opened fire on a classroom with approximately 60 students is still at large
A man initially identified as a “person of interest” in the Saturday, Dec. 13, mass shooting at Brown University has been released from custody — and the real shooter is still on the run.
Col. Oscar Perez of the Providence Police Department said at a press conference on Sunday evening that an individual taken into custody early Sunday and initially identified as a person of interest had been released after authorities said they did not find enough evidence to charge him with a crime.
Authorities say he is no longer a person of interest in the case.
Investigators are now once again searching for the person who was seen dressed in all black and scurrying down a street in the Rhode Island capital around the time of the shooting in video released to the public on Saturday night.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha declined to comment when asked about the decision to release the person taken into custody, and Mayor Brett Smiley said that there was no reason for members of the public to fear for their safety.
When asked why authorities were still unable to locate any other persons of interest in the shooting 36 hours after the attack, Neronha said there were not many video cameras located in the building where the shooting took place.
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He also said that all video footage from the school’s campus had been reviewed at this time and that none of those videos captured the killer’s face.
“If we had that video, you’d have it. If we could show you a face and say this is our person of interest or suspect, you’d have it,” Neronha said.
The shooting occurred at around 4 p.m. on Saturday when a masked man armed with a rifle entered a building on the Brown University campus and opened fire in the hallway.
He then entered a classroom where approximately 60 students were preparing to leave after attending a two-hour study session for an upcoming economics exam.
A number of individuals who were in that classroom told authorities that the gunman shouted an unintelligible statement and then began shooting students.
In the end, two students were killed and nine injured. One of the injured students is still in critical condition.
Brown University announced on Sunday that all exams had been canceled for the rest of the semester and urged students who were still on campus to travel home for winter break.
“For the moment, we encourage everyone to focus on their own safety and well-being,” Prvost Francis J. Doyle III said in a letter to students.
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