Brown Shooting: Frustration Mounts Over University Response

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The search for a gunman who opened fire on Brown University’s campus during exam season, wounding nearly a dozen students, has raised questions about the school’s security systems and the pace of the investigation.

Shooting Investigation Continues

A person of interest taken into custody after Saturday’s mass shooting was released without charges, leaving investigators with limited insight from security video and prompting a search for new leads, officials said Sunday.

Law enforcement officials were still conducting basic investigative work two days after the shooting that killed two students and wounded nine, canvassing local residences and businesses for security camera footage and physical evidence. This has led to frustration among students and some Providence residents regarding gaps in the university’s security and camera systems.

“The fact that we’re in such a surveillance state but that wasn’t used correctly at all is just so deeply frustrating,” said Li Ding, a student at the Rhode Island School of Design who dances on a Brown University team.

Ding is among hundreds of students who have signed a petition to increase security at school buildings, arguing that officials need to improve campus security against threats like active shooters.

“I think honestly, the students are doing a more effective job at taking care of each other than the police,” Ding said.

Investigation Update

Kristy dosReis, chief public information officer for the Providence Police Department, said the investigation did not stand down even after officials detained a Wisconsin man who they now believe was not involved.

“The investigation continued as the scenes were still active. Nothing was cleared,” said dosReis.

Police and the FBI on Monday released new video and photographs of a man they believe carried out the attack. The man was wearing a mask in the footage captured before and after the shooting.

FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks said a $50,000 reward was being offered for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the shooter.

Docks described the investigation, including documenting bullet trajectories, as “painstaking work.”

“We are asking the public to be patient as we continue to run down every lead so we can give victims, survivors, their families and all of you the answers you deserve,” Docks told reporters.

Security Concerns on Campus

While Brown University has cameras, there were few in the Barus and Holley building, home of the engineering school that was targeted.

“Reality is, it’s an old building attached to a new one,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told reporters, explaining the lack of cameras nearby.

The lack of campus footage prompted police to seek tips from the public.

Katherine Baima said U.S. marshals visited her Monday, requesting footage from a security camera pointing toward the street.

“This is the first time any of us in my building, as far as I know, had heard from anyone,” Baima said.

Students said the school’s emergency alert system kept them informed about the active shooter. However, they were uncertain what to do during a prolonged campus lockdown.

Chiang-Heng Chien, a 32-year-old doctoral student in engineering, hid under desks and turned off the lights after receiving a shooting alert at 4:22 p.m. Saturday in a campus lab.

“While I was hiding in the lab, I heard the police yelling outside but my friends and I were debating whether we should open the door, since at that moment the shooter was believed to be (nearby),” he said in a text.

Challenges Facing University Security

Law enforcement experts say colleges often face disadvantages when responding to threats like active shooters. Their security officers typically receive less training and lower pay than other law enforcement departments and may lack strong partnerships with better-resourced agencies.

Funding for campus police departments is often not a priority, even for well-funded schools, said Terrance Gainer, a former Illinois law enforcement official and former U.S. Senate sergeant-at-arms.

“They just aren’t as flush in law enforcement as you would think. They don’t like a lot of uniformed presence, they don’t like a lot of guns around,” said Gainer, who is now a consultant. “Whether it’s Brown or someone else, a key question is, what type of relationship do they have with the local police department?”

At Utah Valley University, where a conservative leader was shot by a shooter on a school building roof last summer, the campus police department did not request assistance from neighboring agencies for security at the event, an Associated Press review found.

Alert System Issues

Providence has an emergency alert system, but it switched from a mobile app to a web-based system in March. The new system requires online registration for alerts, which many residents were unaware of.

Emely Vallee, 35, who lives about a mile from Brown with her two young children, said she received “absolutely nothing” in alerts and relied on texts from friends and the news.

Vallee expected to be notified through the city’s 311 app but didn’t realize Mayor Brett Smiley phased it out in March. Smiley said his administration sent multiple alerts the day of the shooting using the new 311 system and has continued to do so.

Hailey Souza, 23, finished her shift at a smoothie shop just off-campus minutes before the shooting. She said everything seemed normal and quiet.

However, driving home, she saw a boy bleeding on the sidewalk. “Then everyone started running and screaming,” she said, adding that she saw a bystander rip off his T-shirt to help.

The shop Souza manages, In The Pink, is a block from the engineering building. One of the shooting victims, Ella Cook, was a regular customer who had mentioned her last final was Saturday.

Souza later learned that police informed her co-workers about the active shooter, but she never received an emergency alert. “Nothing,” she said.