New images released as search for Brown University shooter continues
The two students who were killed, Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and Ella Cook, were remembered as beloved family and community members.
What we know
- A manhunt is underway after two people were killed and nine others were wounded in a shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday.
- Officials released new photos and videos of a person of interest this evening. A man detained over the weekend was released because the evidence no longer supported holding him, officials said.
- One of the victims was Ella Cook, vice president of the Brown College Republicans chapter. The other was Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, from Uzbekistan, in central Asia.
- Officials have emphasized that the investigation is moving quickly, with evidence being collected by multiple agencies, but they are not yet confirming details that could compromise the case.
- Brown has canceled its remaining fall semester classes, and the shooting has reignited the debate over gun control and how to protect college students before and during mass shootings.
This liveblog has ended. Follow the latest updates here.NEW UPDATES
3d ago / 1:47 AM EST
Brown shooting wasn’t first time Trump administration has shared inaccurate information
The Trump administration’s public response to the mass shooting at Brown University was swift, but it included a major inaccuracy.
President Donald Trump said Saturday night that the alleged shooter was in custody. He walked back the post less than 20 minutes later, saying a suspect was not in custody.
It was the latest example of what has become a pattern of the administration’s creating confusion by posting incorrect information at times of heightened anxiety.
During several emergency situations in Trump’s second term — when the American public is seeking accurate, factual details from authority figures — several members of the administration, including Trump, have publicized information later shown to be premature, incorrect or inaccurate.
With manhunt in its third day, fear and frustration grow
Investigators knocked on doors, combed through bushes and released more video and photos as they hunt for a masked gunman who opened fire at Brown University over the weekend, killing two students and wounding nine others.
“It’s all hands on deck,” the Providence police chief, Col. Oscar L. Perez Jr., told reporters this evening.
“We’re at the 49th hour, and there’s no one that wants to put this individual in handcuffs more than us,” he said.
R.I. governor asks for review of school safety plan following Brown shooting
Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee said today he was asking for a review of safety and security plans for schools in the wake of the shooting.
McKee said he asked Commissioner of Postsecondary Education Shannon Gilkey and Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Angelica Infante-Green to conduct a review. It covers K-12 and secondary education.
“As a parent who has sent my children off to college — I can only imagine how families are feeling right now,” McKee wrote in a statement on X. “And I assure you: The safety and wellbeing of your children and all Rhode Islanders are my priority.”
Brown asks community to be vigilant and to speak to police
As the search for the Brown University shooter continues, the Ivy League institution asked members of the community to be vigilant — and requested that those inside the building where the shooting occurred contact authorities.
“We ask that anyone who was in the Barus & Holley building on Friday or Saturday, Dec. 12-13, immediately contact the Providence police to arrange for an interview,” Brown’s public safety department said in a notice.
“Even what seems like an incidental detail may ultimately be helpful in law enforcement’s efforts to protect our community,” it said.
Access to university buildings will be restricted, the department said.
The public safety department also said it has seen an increase in hoax “swatting” calls since the shooting. The illegal practice is when people deliberately report threats to provoke police responses.
9 mm handgun was used in shooting, police chief says
The Brown University shooter used a 9 mm handgun, said the Providence police chief, Col. Oscar L. Perez Jr.
The manhunt is in its third day, and investigators are trying to identify and apprehend the shooter.
“Every minute counts,” Perez said at a news conference.
‘We can’t wait to put handcuffs on that person,’ police chief says
The Providence police chief said tonight that he is hopeful that new photos and video released today lead to the identification of a person of interest in the shooting.
“I’m hoping that based on the images and video that we just released that someone is going to be able to identify this individual,” said the chief, Col. Oscar L. Perez Jr.
Providence mayor and police chief discuss search for Brown University gunman
07:27
The investigation is more than 50 hours in, and police have been joined by state police and federal agencies in the search for the killer. A person who had been detained was released after it was determined he was not a person of interest, officials said.
“When you investigate something, it takes different directions,” Perez said.
Perez said his officers and detectives are dedicated and committed to finding the shooter.
“We can’t wait to put handcuffs on that person,” Perez said, and he urged the shooter to turn himself in.
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3d ago / 6:34 PM EST
Shooter ‘definitely targeted Brown University,’ police say
The shooter “definitely targeted Brown University,” and investigators are looking into a possible motive, the Providence police chief said today.
“Obviously, it’s something we’re looking into, as far as if there was anything else that he was targeting,” the chief, Col. Oscar L. Perez Jr., said at a news conference.
The cooperation of victims and their families “has been extremely helpful,” he said.
Asked whether the shooter yelled something, Perez replied, “That’s something we’re investigating.”
“We took statements, and we have to confirm,” he said.
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3d ago / 6:12 PM EST
Providence police share video, photos of person of interest
NBC News
Providence police shared videos and photos on social media of a person of interest in the campus shooting. The images were captured about two hours before Saturday’s shooting, police said at an afternoon conference where they were first shared with the public.
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3d ago / 6:00 PM EST
‘We don’t want him to end up being a number’: Victim’s sister remembers his big dreams
Doha Madani and Valeriya Antonshchuk
Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov’s sisters spent hours trying to reach their brother after they learned about the on-campus shooting. They reached out to his friends on Instagram to see wheteher they knew where he was, Rukhsora Umurzokova, 22, his older sister, told NBC News.
“We realized that we were looking at the news and reading two people dead and eight people shot without even realizing that we’re, like, reading this about our brother,” she said. “We didn’t even know. We don’t want him to end up being a number. We want everyone to see his face. We want everyone to know his name.”
She learned around midnight that her younger brother had joined a friend for a review session, even though Umurzokov wasn’t in the class. They called hospitals and the university hotline, and eventually the school’s vice president called her back, she said.
“This was around, like, 2:30 a.m. in the morning, and they informed me that my brother was killed,” Rukhsora Umurzokova said. Show more
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3d ago / 5:28 PM EST
New videos and photos released in search for gunman
New video released in search for Brown University gunman
02:58
Providence police today released new videos and photos of the person believed to have opened fire at Brown University.
The videos and photos, recorded a few hours before the shooting, show a man dressed in black on Hope and Manning streets and on Benevolent Street.
“It’s all hands on deck,” the Providence police chief, Col. Oscar L. Perez Jr., said at a news conference this afternoon. State police and federal agencies are also assisting in the search.
Authorities asked people in Rhode Island and beyond to review the new videos and photos and to call police if they have any information.
“Everything that is physically possible is being done,” Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee said.
The FBI today announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the gunman.
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3d ago / 4:15 PM EST
Sandy Hook mom calls Brown University shooting ‘unacceptable’
NBC News
Nicole Hockley, who lost her son in the Sandy Hook massacre, called the Brown University shooting “unacceptable.” Hockley shared signs and action steps that can be taken to intervene before violence occurs.
04:22
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3d ago / 3:37 PM EST
Providence mayor and police to hold news conference at 5 p.m. ET
The city of Providence announced that Mayor Brett Smiley, the Providence Police Department and other law enforcement officials will provide an update on the investigation into the shooting at 5 p.m. ET.
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3d ago / 3:06 PM EST
Ballistics evidence led to release of initial person of interest, officials say
Tom Winter and Erin McLaughlin
The man authorities initially detained as a person of interest was released last night in part because of ballistics evidence.
A comparison between one of the guns found with the man and the ballistics recovered at the scene did not match, according to two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the matter.
What the specific evidence was — ammunition, shell casings, etc. — wasn’t detailed to NBC News.
However, it was one of the factors that made it clear to law enforcement that they didn’t have a case for holding the person any longer.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha confirmed to NBC News that the man isn’t a suspect and isn’t under surveillance.
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4d ago / 2:36 PM EST
Police release new video of a person of interest
Providence police released new surveillance video today of a person of interest, whom they are asking for the public’s help in identifying.
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4d ago / 2:31 PM EST
‘He’s not just a victim; he’s a person’
Jack Diprimio, 23, a grad student at Brown studying public policy, met Mukhammad Umurzokov at a legal philosophy book event in September. He had asked the author a question that the author didn’t appear to be happy about, and Umurzokov approached him afterward to laugh about the situation.
He was interested in neuroscience and becoming a doctor. “But he wasn’t just interested in STEM; he also was really interested in philosophy and law and politics and the way society works, and he was passionate about politics.”
“Mukhammad realized I was a grad student, and I sort of became a resource for him to talk about, like my work experience, my work in politics,” Diprimio said. “And we talked about what classes he was taking, but he was interested in science but also strongly interested in politics, in international affairs. He just had a real academic passion for so many subjects.”
“I felt protective of him,” he said. Show more
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4d ago / 12:53 PM EST
What we know about the Brown University students who were killed
The two students who were killed were identified as Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and Ella Cook.
Umurzokov was from Uzbekistan in Central Asia and “had a bright future” ahead of him, his aunt Karina Gabit said.
She described him as “very kind” and smart. She said he wanted to be a neurosurgeon after he underwent brain surgery when he was 10.
Cook, 19, from Birmingham, Alabama, was remembered by her church there as “an incredible, grounded, faithful, bright light” who encouraged those around her.
“Not only here, growing up here at the Advent and myriad ways in which she served faithfully and the ways she encouraged and lift up those around her, but at Brown University, she was an incredible light in that particular place as well,” the priest at Cathedral Church of the Advent said during a Sunday service.
“Pray for the Cooks,” he said.
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4d ago / 11:56 AM EST
Virginia officials remember slain victims
Virginia’s governor-elect, Abigail Spanberger, remembered Brown shooting victim Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov on X.
Spanberger said Umurzokov just graduated from Midlothian High School in the state. She said that she is heartbroken over his death and that she is praying for his family and all those affected.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin similarly post said on X that he was praying for Umurzokov and the other victim, Ella Cook.
“We lift up their families, friends and communities in a prayer of comfort and peace,” Youngkin said.
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4d ago / 10:50 AM EST
University of Rhode Island cancels in-person classes following Brown shooting
In-person classes at the University of Rhode Island have been canceled for the day, the school announced in a statement.
Online exams scheduled for today will “proceed as scheduled,” the school said.
URI said that there is no known threat to campus — which is in Kingston, about 30 miles south of Brown’s campus in Providence — but that the decision was made following “consideration of concerns shared by members of our community.”
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4d ago / 9:57 AM EST
Alabama senators pay tribute to slain Brown victim Ella Cook
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., paid tribute on X to Ella Cook, one of the victims. She was from his state.
“I am heartbroken to hear that Mountain Brook’s Ella Cook was among those killed over the weekend at Brown University,” Tuberville wrote. “Our hearts and our prayers are with the Cook family and everyone impacted by this senseless killing.”
Sen. Katie Boyd Britt, R-Ala., said in her tribute that she is mourning Cook’s death.
“There are no words that can ease the pain Ella’s family and friends are enduring write now,” Britt wrote. “Her beautiful life was taken far too soon.”
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4d ago / 9:33 AM EST
Second slain Brown victim identified as Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov
Valeriya Antonshchuk and Rebecca Cohen
Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov was named the second slain victim of the Brown University shooting by the Uzbekistan Foreign Affairs Ministry.
“The loss of innocent lives as a result of this tragedy is a heavy loss for all of us,” the ministry said in a post on Telegram. The post added that representatives from Uzbekistan have been in contact Umurzakov’s family.
Umurzokov’s aunt, Karina Gabit, also confirmed the death to NBC News.
“He was very kind, smart. Attended talented and gifted schools,” she said. He “wanted to be a neurosurgeon ’cause when he was 10 he had a very serious eight-hours-long brain surgery.”
She continued: “We hoped that he would have had a bright future….His mom called me in the middle of the night.”
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4d ago / 8:46 AM EST
Providence mayor says detained person was released based on evolving evidence
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said on “Good Morning America” that evolving evidence led officials to release someone they had detained as a person of interest.
After processing evidence overnight, “it was determined that this person of interest needed to be released,” Smiley said. He added that the investigation continues.
“To be clear, we’ve never stopped our investigation,” Smiley said. “Providence police and our partners and state police, the FBI and others, have continuously run down leads and work this case beyond the person of interest who had been detained yesterday.”Show more
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4d ago / 8:40 AM EST
Brown University provides update on shooting
In a post on X this morning, Brown University shared the news that the detained person was released and that the Rhode Island attorney general determined “there is no basis” for that individual to be considered a person of interest.
As the investigation continues, local police have said they do not believe there is any threat to Brown or the local community, the post said.
