Brown University shooting: What we know so far

Police in the United States have detained a “person of interest” in connection with a shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island that killed two people and wounded nine others, according to the Providence Mayor Brett Smiley.

Colonel Oscar Perez, chief of the Providence police, also confirmed the detention of a person in his 30s.

The prestigious Ivy League university and surrounding neighbourhoods in Providence was placed in lockdown following the deadly shooting after which a massive manhunt was launched. The lockdown has now been lifted.

Here’s what we know so far.

What happened?

On Saturday afternoon, a suspect with a firearm entered Brown’s Barus and Holley building, home to the school of engineering and the physics department, where students were taking exams.

Two people were killed and eight critically injured when the attacker opened fire, with a ninth sustaining injuries from bullet fragments, officials said. The victims are yet to be publicly identified, although the university president, Christina Paxson, has said she was told they were students.

University authorities became aware of the shooting at about 4:05pm local time (21:05 GMT), when emergency responders received a 911 call, Providence Mayor Smiley said.

Seventeen minutes later, the university issued its first emergency update, warning that there was a gunman near the engineering building and advising those present to silence their phones and hide.

Law enforcement swept the building, but the suspect had left the scene.

Later on Sunday, the Providence police chief Perez said the person was detained “earlier this morning” and law enforcement officers are “not at this point” looking for anyone else in relation to the attack.

The university said that police officers remained in areas still considered an active crime scene.

Who is the shooter?

Officials released a video of the suspect, a male possibly in his 30s and dressed in black.

The Providence deputy police chief, Timothy O’Hara, earlier on Sunday said the attacker might have worn a mask, but officials were not certain.

Smiley said officials did not believe there was any “specific, ongoing threat” posed by the attacker. He had earlier fled along a usually busy street of restaurants and coffee shops.

What do we know about the manhunt?

More than 400 law enforcement personnel were deployed in the hunt for the suspect, canvassing the local area while a lockdown order was issued for the campus and surrounding neighbourhoods. The lockdown was lifted once the suspect was detained.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were drawn into the effort, working alongside local and state police.

Police said investigators had retrieved shell casings from the scene of the shooting and were also looking into why the target was selected as part of the investigation.

What has President Donald Trump said?

The US president told reporters at the White House that he had been briefed on the “terrible” situation.

“All we can do right now is pray for the victims and for those that were very badly hurt,” Trump said.

Before authorities confirmed the suspect’s detention, he issued a retraction on his platform, Truth Social, after wrongly claiming the suspect had been held – repeating an error earlier made by the university in the hours following the attack.

What is there to know about the university?

Brown, a member of the prestigious Ivy League of elite private universities in the northeastern US, is one of the oldest universities in the country.

Founded in 1764, it has 11,000 students and a highly selective admissions process, with only about 5 percent of undergraduate admissions accepted in the latest intake.