What to know about the search for the Brown University shooter
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1:05 PM on Wednesday, December 17
By PATRICK WHITTLE and LEAH WILLINGHAM
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The investigation into the Brown University mass shooting has dragged on for more than four days with no named suspect, motive, weapon or even a clear image of the assailant's face that might help bring them to justice.
Investigators have been hobbled by the lack of clear eyewitness accounts of the shooter and few, if any, cameras in the wing of the building where the attack happened. Despite these difficulties, frustration was mounting Wednesday over the lack of progress in the investigation into the attack that killed two students and wounded nine others.
Here are some answers to questions about the attack and investigation:
The attack plunged the Ivy League school's campus into chaos, and there was initial confusion in the immediate aftermath. This includes President Donald Trump, who announced Saturday night that the shooter was in custody but retracted that statement 20 minutes later. Then, authorities announced early Sunday that they had detained a person of interest, but they released the person hours later after determining he didn't do it.
Police officials insist the man's detention didn't stop them from continuing to investigate other leads before his release.
Authorities have since released several security videos of a person they think might have carried out the attack. They show the individual standing, walking and even running along the streets, but their face is masked or turned away in all of them.
The state attorney general said the wing of the building where the attack happened has few “if any” cameras, and investigators believe the shooter entered and left through a door that faces a residential street bordering campus. The building is on the edge of campus, which might explain why the cameras Brown does have didn’t capture footage of the person.
Separately, Providence police on Wednesday released a new photo of a different individual who they said was in “proximity of the person of interest” and asked the public to help identify that person so they could speak with them.
On Wednesday, Providence’s police chief, Col. Oscar Perez, said student witnesses’ accounts of the shooter match the masked person that authorities are seeking. They have stopped short of calling them a suspect, referring to them, too, as a person of interest — stressing that they believe the person was casing the area ahead of the attack.
Very little, aside from what we see of them in the footage. Investigators have described the person as being about 5 feet, 8 inches (173 centimeters) tall and stocky.
We still don't know. Although police said this week that they believe Brown was targeted and that the videos suggest the masked person was casing the building, no one has taken credit for the attack and investigators apparently still hadn't identified a suspect as of Wednesday.
Police once again stressed Wednesday that they haven't found any evidence that a specific person was being targeted in the attack.
Police say they still don't know. The finals study session was for a “Principles of Economics” course that attracts hundreds of students each semester, but police are still tracking down how many may have been in the room.
Paxson said the university has two security systems. One is activated at a time of emergency and sent out text messages, phone calls and emails that, in this shooting, reached 20,000 people. The other system features three sirens across campus, but Paxson said that would not be activated in an active shooter situation. Brown’s website says the sirens can be used when there is an active shooter, but Paxson said it “depends on the circumstances” and the location of the shooter.
The two students who were killed and the nine others injured were studying for a final in a first-floor classroom in an older section of the engineering building when the shooter walked in and opened fire.
The students who were killed were 19-year-old sophomore Ella Cook and 18-year-old freshman MukhammadAziz Umurzokov. Cook, whose funeral is Monday, was active in her Alabama church and served as vice president of the Brown College Republicans. Umurzokov’s family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan when he was a child, and he aspired to be a doctor.
As for the wounded, one remained hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday and five were in stable condition, officials said. The other three were discharged.
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Whittle reported from Portland, Maine. Contributing were Associated Press reporters Kimberlee Kruesi, Amanda Swinhart, Robert F. Bukaty, Matt O'Brien and Jennifer McDermott in Providence; Michael Casey in Boston; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Kathy McCormack and Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and Alanna Durkin Richer, Mike Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington.
