PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A graduate student at Brown University, who has now experienced two incidents of campus violence, expressed her disbelief after the suspect initially held in connection to Sunday night’s shooting was released within a day.
Sachi Gandhi, pursuing a master’s in biotechnology, shared with Fox News Digital that she was in her residence in Fox Point when she heard the gunfire.
This incident brought back memories of a 2023 shooting at the University of North Carolina, where she endured an eight-hour lockdown in a lab while a professor was killed in a nearby building.
“I was locked in the lab for about eight hours,” Gandhi recalled. “It was eerily similar in that many students were confused about the details. Everyone was passing around misinformation because of the fear. Fear grips everyone when such things happen.”
A solitary bicycle was left behind at the crime scene cordoned off at the Barus and Holley Building at Brown University, where a gunman claimed the lives of two students and injured nine others.
Gandhi pointed out that despite the differences between the two shootings, with the Brown event involving multiple victims, the emotional toll was “equally frightening.”
Speaking about the Brown shooting, Gandhi said students initially breathed a sigh of relief when police announced they had taken a suspect into custody. But when authorities later released that same individual, panic spread across campus.
“It was really, really scary,” she told Fox News Digital. “Most of my friends have already left. My parents called saying they were driving up from Georgia to get me.”
Emergency personnel gather on Waterman Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
She said the reversal left students feeling exposed and unprotected.
“It’s really messed up,” Gandhi said. “And where is our money going if we can’t catch this guy?”
She clarified she was referring to taxpayer dollars, not her Brown tuition.
Police tape off hotel rooms where the person of interest was arrested in a shooting, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Coventry, R.I. (Kimberlee Kruesi/AP Photo)
Gandhi praised Brown University, calling it an “amazing institution” with extensive camera coverage. Her frustration lies with the process that allowed the detained suspect to walk free so quickly.
“I’m more upset about finding someone and then releasing them a day later,” she said. “It just messes with a lot of students, especially the ones who are still here.”
The shooting at Brown resulted in multiple victims and sent the campus community into lockdown as police launched a manhunt for the gunman. Authorities have not announced any new arrests.
People hold candles during a vigil, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Providence, R.I., for the victims of Saturday’s shooting on the campus of Brown University. (Steven Senne/AP Photo)
Gandhi said that while the shootings were different in scale and circumstance, both left students facing the same fog of fear, confusion, and misinformation.
“No one knew what was real,” she said. “That’s exactly what happened at UNC, too.”
Despite the fear, she said she has seen Brown students support each other in the aftermath, just as UNC students did following their campus shooting.
“It’s nice to see the community band together,” she said.
But for many students, including Gandhi’s friends, the fear hasn’t subsided.
“They’ve already packed up and left,” she said. “People don’t feel safe right now.”
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.
