Providence police records detail response to deadly Brown University shooting

A FIRST ON FOX: Newly obtained police and fire records detail the chaotic, multi-building response to the Brown University shooting that killed two students and injured several others.

The attack occurred shortly after 4 p.m. on Dec. 13 at the Barus and Holley building near the Brown Science Library and surrounding academic buildings at Thayer, Hope and Waterman streets, according to Providence Police (PPD) and Fire Department records reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Immediately following the shooting, police reported that a possible suspect was in custody at a nearby academic building, another person encountered a possible suspect in that building, and another person was detained in a nearby vehicle.

Police encountered a possible suspect in the basement of a building at 167 Thayer Street on December 13 at 4:22 p.m. He later reported that a person was taken into custody at 4:38 p.m. after encountering a possible suspect in a bathroom in that building. It was also reported that a person was detained in the vehicle at 16.42.

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These arrests at the scene are separate from the man who was detained at a hotel in Coventry the next morning and later released. Fox News Digital has reached out to PPD for comment.

Initial 911 calls reported that a man had been shot in the back near Manning Walk. Within minutes, Brown University police notified city authorities that multiple people had been shot and expanded the response to Barus and Holley, 167 Thayer St., 115 Waterman St. and 184 Hope St. It expanded to many buildings including.

Dispatch records reveal that police radio traffic confirmed an active shooter and callers reported 10 shots fired in the hallways and classrooms of the Ivy League building.

Witnesses initially described a male suspect wearing all black clothing and covering his face. Police later released the first suspects.

As reports poured in, hundreds of students sheltered in place in campus buildings, including Solomon Hall, where police said about 150 to 300 people were barricaded inside.

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Crime scene tape blocked streets near Brown University as the investigation continued Saturday in Providence, R.I. (Andrea Margolis/Fox News Digital)

Providence Fire Department officials quickly declared a mass casualty incident, records show, dispatching rescue task forces and requesting ballistic protection for paramedics who were ordered to stand by until police could secure each scene.

Area hospitals were notified and Rhode Island Hospital was designated to receive the most seriously injured victims.

Despite his role as Brown University’s highest governing authority with direct authority over presidential oversight and long-term strategy, the board of trustees declined to comment in the wake of the killings, which revealed serious gaps in campus security. (David L. Ryan/Boston Globe via Getty Images)

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Law enforcement officers carrying weapons gather near Brown University in Providence, RI, on Saturday, December 13, 2025, during a shooting investigation. (Steven Senne/AP Photo)

Fire department records show victims were found both inside and outside buildings, including hallways, stairwells and basement areas.

As officers cleared the buildings floor by floor, police reported that multiple victims had emerged from the building and groups had barricaded themselves on the upper floors, waiting to be rescued.

Authorities said there was no longer an active threat, but searches continued for hours as officers methodically cleared basements, attics, mechanical rooms and stairwells out of concern there might be additional suspects or victims.

A makeshift memorial is seen on the campus of Brown University near the scene of a shooting that occurred on December 15, 2025, in Providence, Rhode Island. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP)

By early evening the buildings were declared safe and buses were brought in to transport sheltered students to reunification points.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Providence Police Department for more information and requested audio recordings of 911 calls related to the attack, but those recordings have not yet been received.

Police said the attacker was Claudio Neves-Valente, 48, a one-time Portuguese physics genius who later died by suicide. following a multi-state manhunt.

Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts released this photo showing the man identified in the fatal shootings of Brown University students in Rhode Island and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor. (Ministry of Justice)

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Neves-Valente was a Portuguese national and former Brown student. studied physics from fall 2000 to spring 2001, before withdrawing from the program in 2003, according to Brown University President Christina Paxson. He emphasized that Neves-Valente had no recent connection to the university at the time of the campus attack.

The Providence Police Department has not publicly released details about this motive.

Neves-Valente killed two students and injured nine others in the Brown shooting, then traveled to Massachusetts and killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro two days later, authorities said.

Daily Mail President of the Portuguese Plasma and Nuclear Fusion Institute, Dr. Bruno Goncalves underlined that the attack was not the result of an ongoing rivalry or dispute, saying Neves-Valente did not maintain any known relationship with Loureiro for decades after they worked together there.

Investigators are collecting evidence regarding the Nissan Sentra driven by Brown University shooter Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente on Thursday, December 19, 2025, in Salem, NH. (Fox News Digital’s David McGlynn)

Instead, Goncalves said Neves-Valente may have focused on what Loureiro represents.

“The strongest theory is that Claudio saw Nuno as a symbol of academic and professional success that he himself had not achieved,” Goncalves said. he said.

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Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price contributed to this report.