{"id":346610,"date":"2025-12-15T11:24:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/346610\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T11:24:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:24:11","slug":"another-campus-another-night-of-terror-brown-university-shooting-traps-students-in-a-familiar-nightmare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/346610\/","title":{"rendered":"Another campus, another night of terror: Brown University shooting traps students in a familiar nightmare"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n For nine hours, students at Brown University crouched under desks and behind locked door, making panicked phone calls and sending \u201cI love you\u201d texts that felt dangerously close to goodbyes.\n <\/p>\n

\n An active shooter was on campus<\/a> \u2014 and police were still searching for a suspect.\n <\/p>\n

\n Late Saturday night into Sunday morning, they listened for footsteps, for sirens, for anything that might signal the end of another American nightmare.\n <\/p>\n

\n It is a kind of story<\/a> Americans know too well, and one that repeats with numbing regularity \u2014 again and again and again.\n <\/p>\n

\n By the time Brown\u2019s campus lockdown lifted at 5:40 a.m., two students were dead and nine others had been injured, according to the university. One victim remains in critical condition, another is listed as stable and one person was treated and released.\n <\/p>\n

\n So far in 2025, there have been at least 391 mass shootings and 13,929 shooting deaths in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive<\/a>. Each number represents a shattered family, a traumatized community, another generation learning too early how to survive gunfire.\n <\/p>\n

\n At the private university in Providence, Rhode Island, the nightmare began on a winter afternoon just two weeks before Christmas. Students were studying for finals at the library or taking exams. Others were attending review sessions, and some were hanging out with friends visiting the Ivy League campus when the first alert reached their phones at 4:22 p.m.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cUrgent: There\u2019s an active shooter near Barus & Holley Engineering,\u201d the alert read.\n <\/p>\n

\n Students should lock the doors, silence phones and hide until further notice, it said, adding to run and evacuate safely if you could.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cFIGHT, as a last resort, take action to protect yourself,\u201d the alert said.\n <\/p>\n

\"Emergency<\/p>\n

\n Ten more alerts would follow, reminding the community to stay sheltered in place and keep doors locked, letting students know where police were and which buildings were being evacuated, and, finally, telling them the shelter-in-place order had ended.\n <\/p>\n

\n Saturday\u2019s shooting came on the eve of the 13th anniversary <\/a>of the Sandy Hook school massacre<\/a>, which claimed the lives of 26 people<\/a>, including 20 elementary students.\n <\/p>\n

\n At least two students at Brown had survived previous school shootings.\n <\/p>\n

\n Zoe Weissman was in middle school when she witnessed the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School<\/a> in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead.\n <\/p>\n

\n The sophomore said she is overwhelmed not just by grief but by anger.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think the sadness will set in when we get all the victims identified and find out who we lost as a community,\u201d Weissman told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBut right now, I\u2019m just angry that there are kids like me in this country who have had to go through this not once but twice.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Students were hustling around campus, coming and going on the penultimate Saturday of the semester. Many were entering the engineering building at Barus and Holley where final exams and review sessions were underway. The exterior doors were unlocked.\n <\/p>\n

\n In room 166, one of the largest classrooms in the building, Joseph Oduro, a 21-year-old teaching assistant, was holding his final review session<\/a> of the year. The session ended just after 4 p.m., a little later than planned.\n <\/p>\n

\"witness<\/p>\n

\u2018I locked eyes with him\u2019: Teaching assistant recalls moment Brown University shooter entered his classroom\n <\/p>\n

\"witness<\/p>\n

\u2018I locked eyes with him\u2019: Teaching assistant recalls moment Brown University shooter entered his classroom<\/p>\n

9:54 <\/p>\n

\n Oduro, who helps teach economics to undergraduates, was delivering closing remarks to his class and watching his students stand up to leave when the sound of gunfire cut through the room.\n <\/p>\n

\n Then came the screams.\n <\/p>\n

\n Moments later, Oduro said, the gunman entered the auditorium from the back of the room and locked eyes with him.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHe came in, pointed the gun, and then screamed something,\u201d Oduro recalled. \u201cThen he just started shooting right after that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The first shots ripped into the chalkboard, exactly where Oduro had been standing seconds earlier. One of his students was shot in the legs.\n <\/p>\n

\n Oduro and about 20 students ducked and huddled behind a desk in front of the auditorium, the only refuge available, and called 911. There wasn\u2019t much space behind the desk, Oduro said. He estimated it to be about 10 feet long.\n <\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe made do,\u201d Oduro said. \u201cBecause at the end of the day, we just all wanted to survive.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n It \u201cfelt like an eternity\u201d before the gunfire stopped, Oduro said. He didn\u2019t lift his head until campus public safety officers entered the room and told them it was safe to leave.\n <\/p>\n

\n Sophia Holman was searching for a classroom<\/a> to study in at the engineering building when she heard gunshots.\n <\/p>\n

\n At first, she thought it was sound from the school\u2019s woodshop, or an \u201cexperiment gone wrong,\u201d she told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n But then she saw someone run past her \u2014 so she started running, too. She ran one block east and then called police.\n <\/p>\n

\n Police searched the engineering building but couldn\u2019t find any suspect. Over 400 local, state and federal law enforcement officials <\/a>fanned out across the Brown campus, searching for the gunman they believed exited the building on Hope Street.\n <\/p>\n

\n Law enforcement later said the suspect was dressed in dark clothing and believed to be in his 30s. The figure\u2019s face, officials said, was obscured, and witnesses told police he may have been wearing a gray camouflage mask.\n <\/p>\n

\n An early alert from the university initially said police had a person in custody. But the person was later determined not to be the shooting suspect, the school said, and students were urged to remain vigilant.\n <\/p>\n

\n Ethan Schenker, who was studying in the basement of a campus library when the lockdown began, described the hours as startling. Everyone in the library, he said, was \u201cvery on edge\u201d as law enforcement cleared every classroom and patrolled the building.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t seem real,\u201d Schenker, a former CNN intern, said.\n <\/p>\n

\"First<\/p>\n

\n Students sheltering in a library<\/a> huddled on the ground as police banged on the door, video shows. Officers in tactical gear with long guns entered and cleared the room and escorted the students out.\n <\/p>\n

\n About 160 students were in lockdown in the gym, according to Lydell Dyer, a Brown student and former CNN intern.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe gathered everybody up. Went to the third floor of our building. We locked the doors. We had to turn off the lights, close the blinds, and then we sat there in silence and darkness for hours,\u201d Dyer said. They were eventually moved to the school\u2019s track facility building, he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI was there until 3:30 in the morning until they finally found a way to get us a shuttle and get us back to our dorms,\u201d Dyer said.\n <\/p>\n

\n By early Sunday morning, about 12 hours after the shooting, the school sent another alert, saying the shelter-in-place order had ended.\n <\/p>\n

\n Investigators, meanwhile, had zeroed in on a person of interest<\/a> \u2014 and a Hampton Inn \u2014 hundreds of miles from Providence.\n <\/p>\n

\n At a Hampton Inn in Coventry, Rhode Island, unsuspecting visitors and travelers were jolted awake shortly before dawn.\n <\/p>\n

\n Law enforcement banged on one hotel door, ordering the man inside to open up, sources said. At least 20 officers \u2014 including local police, US marshals and FBI agents \u2014 filled the hotel corridors as they entered the room, CNN witnessed. Once inside, they asked where he had been that day and evening.\n <\/p>\n

\n In the hotel the whole time, he responded.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe have a warrant for your apartment,\u201d one officer said. Moments later, the man inside was told he would be taken \u201cback to the cruiser.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But late Sunday night, officials released the man. The evidence \u201cpoints in a different direction,\u201d said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s fair to say that there is no basis to consider him a person of interest,\u201d Neronha said. \u201cSo, that\u2019s why he\u2019s being released.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n There are still a \u201clot of steps left to take\u201d in the investigation, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAfter 30 years in law enforcement, there were a lot of twists and a lot of roads that I\u2019ve walked down,\u201d McKee said. \u201cI can\u2019t tell you what direction it\u2019s going to take right now, but we\u2019re going to solve (this case).\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\u2018I just want to make sure everybody else is OK\u2019<\/p>\n

\n By Sunday afternoon, not all victims\u2019 families had been notified, a delay made more painful by timing and distance, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said.\n <\/p>\n

\n For survivors, the horror of what unfolded inside the building is still coming into focus.\n <\/p>\n

\n Mia Tretta knows the cost of gun violence in ways few people ever should.\n <\/p>\n

\n A junior at Brown University, Tretta survived the 2019 Saugus High School shooting<\/a> in Santa Clarita, California. Tretta was shot in the stomach and lives with lasting physical complications.\n <\/p>\n

\n When it came time to choose a college, Tretta deliberately sought out a campus that felt small, contained and safe, a place she believed might finally put distance between her and the violence that had already marked her life, she said.\n <\/p>\n

\"Brown<\/p>\n

\n So, when her phone first buzzed with an alert warning of a shooter in Brown\u2019s engineering building, she initially dismissed it.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI didn\u2019t really think it was real,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n

\n That disbelief shattered as message after message flooded in.\n <\/p>\n

\n As authorities searched for the gunman, panic spread across campus, and confusion ruled the night, Tretta said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt was just a really confusing time for everyone. I have friends who were stuck in basements of buildings and\/or in the hallway of the library,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n

\n The night, Tretta said, carried brutal familiarity and proof that survival offers no immunity.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cUnfortunately,\u201d she said, \u201cgun violence doesn\u2019t care if you\u2019ve already been shot in a school shooting.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Smiley noted the generational impact of such violence: \u201cWe have a generation of kids who have had to do active shooter trainings. That\u2019s not something I had to do when I was a kid,\u201d the mayor said.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n For Oduro, the teaching assistant, the weight of what happened has barely begun to settle. He is now a survivor and a part of a generation all too familiar with mass shootings.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cUnfortunately, that\u2019s just part of the society we live in today,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n His heart goes out to students who didn\u2019t make it out of the room or are in the hospital.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI haven\u2019t really had the chance to process things myself, but I just want to make sure everybody else is OK,\u201d Oduro said.\n <\/p>\n

\n For Weissman, the Parkland high school graduate, the Brown attack reopened wounds from 2018. She immediately called her mother after Saturday\u2019s gunfire, just as she did years ago.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt feels like I\u2019m 12 again,\u201d she said. \u201cIt feels like it\u2019s 2018 again for my family as well. We\u2019re going through the exact same emotions.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN\u2019s TuAnh Dam, Danya Gainor, Effie Nidam, Brian Todd, Leigh Waldman, Emma Tucker, Zoe Sottile, John Miller, Evan Perez, Maureen Chowdhury, Sharif Paget, Chris Boyette, Dalia Abdelwahab, Lauren Mascarenhas, Riane Lumer, Taylor Galgano, Curt Devine, Allison Gordon, and Yahya Abou-Ghazala contributed to this report.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For nine hours, students at Brown University crouched under desks and behind locked door, making panicked phone calls…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,75,348],"class_list":["post-346610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}