Manhunt continues after two killed in Brown University shooting

A manhunt continues after two students were killed and nine others were injured in a shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island.

Authorities said the gunman opened fire at around 16:00 local time (21:00 GMT) on Saturday into a classroom in the Barus and Holley engineering building at the east end of the Ivy League university’s campus, where final exams are being held.

Rhode Island Hospital officials said most of the injured were in “critical but stable” condition and that the suspect was at large but the hospital was “on lockdown.”

A shelter-in-place advisory is in place for the greater Brown University area.

The identities of those killed or injured have not yet been announced by the authorities.

“This is a day we hope will never come to our community. It is a deeply devastating day for all of us,” Brown University President Christina Paxson said in a statement. he said.

Police provided limited information about the suspect. However, they presented CCTV footage of him leaving the building after the shooting.

The suspect’s face and gun are not visible in the video.

Providence Deputy Police Chief Tim O’Hara said the suspect was a male who was dressed in all black and appeared to be in his thirties.

“We are using every resource possible to find this suspect,” he said.

The Barus and Holley engineering building is a seven-story building consisting of 117 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and three lecture halls.

An economics professor told local public media outlet Ocean State Radio that the attack occurred during a review session of his course, which his teaching assistant was leading.

“He said the shooter came through the doors, yelled something, couldn’t remember what he yelled, and started shooting,” said Rachel Friedberg.

“Students started scrambling to get away from the shooter, they tried to move lower into the stadium seating, and people were shot,” he added.

Authorities cleared the building Saturday afternoon but found neither the suspect nor the gun.

They said that the attacker used a firearm, but they did not know what type it was.

Residents in the greater Brown University area are told to stay home and stay indoors or stay away until the shelter in place is lifted.

Law enforcement will enter non-residential buildings to take people to safety, the university said in a statement. Other people in residential buildings should also continue to shelter in place.

Boston Globe reporter Steph Machado told BBC News that restaurants on campus locked their doors and staff and customers waited inside until the emergency order was lifted.

“There are flashing lights everywhere,” he said.

The standoff after authorities opened fire was clear, with the university reporting a suspect was in custody on Saturday afternoon and soon retracting that information.

Smiley confirmed that after questioning, a man who appeared to be unrelated to the attack was briefly detained by police.

Mari Camara, a 20-year-old Brown University student from New York City, told The Associated Press that she left the library and ran to a restaurant for shelter during the shooting. He spent the next three hours hiding there.

“Everyone, like me, is shocked and horrified that something like this has happened,” Camara said.

Rector Frank Doyle said that university exams planned for Saturday were cancelled.

President Donald Trump called the attack “a terrible thing,” speaking to reporters as he returned to the White House from attending the annual Army and Navy football game.

“All we can do right now is pray for the victims and those who were so seriously injured,” he said.

Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee said in a statement: “Our capital city suffered an unthinkable tragedy today. Our hearts go out to the people of Providence and everyone affected.”

Brown University, one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the United States, is part of the Ivy League, a group of elite universities in the northeastern part of the country.

The university, which has more than 11,000 students, is located in Providence, Rhode Island’s capital, approximately 50 miles (80 km) from Boston and 180 miles (290 km) from New York City.

The attack on the campus brought the number of mass shootings in the United States to 389 this year, according to independent analysis site Gun Violence Archive (GVA).

It defines mass shootings as the killing or wounding of four or more victims, not including the attacker.