Photo: Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
On Saturday, a gunman opened fire in a lecture hall at Brown University in Rhode Island, killing two people and injuring nine others during the height of exam season at the Ivy League institution. Though authorities announced they had taken a person of interest into custody, the individual was later released, the suspect in the incident remains at large, and the manhunt continues as the quiet community is still reeling from the violent incident. Here’s what we know so far.
Help find this Person of Interest. If you have any information, please call 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or https://t.co/iL7sD5efWD. pic.twitter.com/AkFDVtOCmw
— FBI (@FBI) December 14, 2025
On Sunday, FBI director Kash Patel took to social media, detailing the agency’s efforts assisting the Brown University investigation and search for the gunman. Patel revealed that law enforcement had located a person of interest and taken them into custody at a hotel room in nearby Coventry, Rhode Island.
An update on the @FBI response at Brown University:@FBIBoston established a command post to intake, develop and analyze leads, and run them to ground. We activated the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team, to provide critical geolocation capabilities. As a result, early… pic.twitter.com/KONDEbrduR
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) December 14, 2025
While officials did not publicly identify the man in question and he clearly wasn’t the confirmed suspect, law enforcement sources leaked information about the man’s identity to news outlets. Their subsequent news reports revealed his name and background.
But by late Sunday evening, the Providence Police Department announced that it would be releasing the person of interest with no charges.
During a press conference, Providence police chief Oscar Perez said the initial tip came through the department, but that the FBI ultimately followed it up.
“There was a tip that came in, just like we would take in any other tips and that one came in specifically identifying a person of interest which was this individual. And so our detectives, just like the others, got on it. But this specific one, it was actually picked up by the FBI and they followed through with it, and they ended up coming and locating this individual of interest,” Perez said.
Q: What exactly was the evidence that led you to this person of interest?A: There was a tip that came in just like we were taking any other tips and that one came in specifically identifying a person of interest, which was this individual. And so we are detectives, just like… pic.twitter.com/XnN1tCFjpJ
— Acyn (@Acyn) December 15, 2025
State attorney general Peter Neronha said that such shifts in an investigation are not uncommon. “This is what these investigations look like. I’ve been around long enough to know that sometimes you head in one direction and then you have to regroup and go in another. That’s exactly what has happened,” he said.
But Neronha acknowledged that it was “really unfortunate” that the person of interest’s identity was made public.
“It’s hard to put that back in the bottle. So we’re going to proceed very carefully here,” he said
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