Brown University murder victim’s friend blasts school security preparedness

A former Brown University student and friend of Ella Cook, who was killed by a single gunman at the university earlier this month, said the Ivy League school’s lack of preparation and resources to catch the killer was no surprise.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Alex Shieh told Fox News Digital that Brown’s misguided financial priorities are the key reason why a killer was able to enter and exit the university’s facilities undetected:

“I don’t think it’s particularly surprising that the older buildings on campus have never been equipped with updated security systems, because that’s not the priority in spending and because they know that people will want to come to Brown regardless of the facilities because of the Ivy League name,” Shieh said.

“It’s a little confusing to people that you have a school that costs $100,000 a year and an endowment of $8 billion,” Shieh said. “Why aren’t there cameras in the building?”

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Shieh is no stranger to what Brown describes as inflated and wasteful spending. During his time at the school, he served as publisher of the Brown Spectator, the university’s student-run newspaper, and caused a stir when he began asking questions about how much executives earned and what they did at work.

After being inspired by President Donald Trump’s DOGE, Shieh sent a survey to administrators asking them to detail their work, but was met with opposition from faculty. He stated that administrators are making millions, while facilities and students’ quality of life are declining.

Brown first took disciplinary action against the former student, alleging that he caused emotional and psychological harm, violated privacy, misrepresented the university and violated operational rules.

Former Brown University student Alex Shieh faces disciplinary charges from the school for trying to expose wasteful administrative spending.

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“There are approximately 4,000 administrators in a school of approximately 11,000 students,” Shieh said. “And it struck me as odd, and I realized clearly that this growth and this bubble in the number of personnel managers is causing tuition to skyrocket across the country, especially at a school like Brown University.”

“Classes are not necessarily different things [Brown] not the caliber of facilities from other schools, not the caliber of dormitories, [what] What really sets Brown apart and makes it worth the price in some people’s eyes is that Brown is in the Ivy League,” Shieh added.

Brown’s aggressive response to Shieh’s reporting led to a hearing by the House Judiciary Committee in June to discuss free speech concerns as well as misguided and excessive Ivy League spending that Shieh witnessed.

Interior view of Barus and Holley Room 166 on the Brown University campus in Providence, RI. At approximately 4:00 pm on Saturday, December 13, a masked man with a gun entered a review session of the ECON 0110: “Principles of Economics” course in Barus & Holley Room 166, shouted something unintelligible, and opened fire. (Kenna Lee/The Brown Daily Herald)

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The university ultimately dropped all charges against Shieh. Shieh wonders if some of the waste he hopes to expose is why facilities aren’t equipped with cameras or better security.

“They use their money in really stupid ways,” Shieh said. “It’s like paying the athletic directors of a small Ivy League school millions of dollars a year and having an excessive amount of managers on staff.”

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Shieh, who like Cook was a member of the school’s College Republicans, said he was shocked to learn of his murder.

“He was such a nice guy and respected by everyone and no one had a problem with him on campus, so it was very surprising that this happened to him more than anyone else,” Shieh said.

A homeless man living on the Brown University campus was the key witness in helping investigators find the killer. (FBI Boston)

According to authorities, Claudio Neves-Valente entered Brown’s campus on November 13 and took the lives of Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, then drove 50 miles to Brookline, Massachusetts, and killed MIT nuclear physicist Nuno Loureiro two days later.

Neves-Valente evaded capture, and a manhunt that lasted several days followed. He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a warehouse in Salem, New Hampshire, on Thursday night.

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Law enforcement officials and investigators credit a homeless man who lived on Brown’s campus with providing information about his interaction with Neves-Valente that eventually led to the shooter.

If Brown University had been equipped with preventive technology and had cameras at the facilities targeted by the attacker, it might have been possible for the attacker to be caught and the MIT professor not to be killed.

Preston Mizell is a writer for Fox News. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and X @MizellPreston.