In what experts are calling a tragic breach of security, Brown University became the site of a horrifying shooting over the weekend. The incident, described by criminal profiler John Kelly as targeting a “soft spot,” underscores vulnerabilities in campus security due to unsecured doors and limited surveillance. The shooter, who remains unidentified, is still at large as of Monday.
The attack unfolded in a lecture hall on Brown’s Providence, Rhode Island campus around 4 p.m. on Saturday. The gunman, armed with a semiautomatic weapon, claimed the lives of two students and injured nine others during what was supposed to be a routine study session.
John Kelly, president of STALK Inc., provided insight into the attack, suggesting that the gunman was not only familiar with the campus but possibly harbored a grudge against the institution or its engineering program. “This was an organized individual, enraged, and dressed for the occasion,” Kelly noted, highlighting the attacker’s comfort with the weapon used.
In the aftermath, law enforcement officers swiftly escorted students to safety. Concerns have been raised about the lack of security cameras in the Barus and Holley building, where the shooting occurred, pointing to broader issues of campus safety.
Meanwhile, the FBI has released footage of a potential suspect captured on surveillance video near the crime scene. The individual, seen wearing dark clothing, has not yet been apprehended, despite police efforts that included questioning another person who was subsequently released.
The FBI released surveillance video showing a person of interest wearing dark clothes at an intersection to the northeast of the crime scene. He remained at large Monday afternoon, after police questioned but released someone else in connection with the incident.
FBI agents canvass a neighborhood near Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. A gunman killed two students and injured nine more during a finals week study session on Saturday. (Greg Norman-Diamond/Fox News Digital)
“They don’t know if he’s 500 miles away or five doors down the street,” Kelly told Fox News Digital. “What they do know is he’s a psycho killer and mass shooter. If they don’t get him, there is a lot of fear for people living there, and there will be a lot of scared kids returning to campus.”
A map showing the Barus and Holley Building at Brown University, where a gunman killed two and wounded nine Saturday, as well as the intersection where a dark-clad person of interest was seen on surveillance video. (Google Maps, Fox News Digital)
Police and federal agents were seen canvassing a wider area, including the neighborhood surrounding the Terrence Murray Baseball Stadium about five blocks to the northeast.
Forensic investigators wearing Tyvek suits were seen combing through a dumpster outside the Barus and Holley building.
File photo of Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, who is reportedly one of the victims in the mass shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, Dec. 13, 2025. (GoFundMe)
The two victims who died were identified as Ella Cook, a 19-year-old from Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, originally from Uzbekistan but a naturalized U.S. citizen from Virginia.
