Police: Person of interest in custody in Brown University shooting
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Providence police said Sunday morning a person of interest is in custody in connection with a fatal mass shooting at Brown University Saturday.
Additionally, sources tell ABC News the person in custody is not a Brown University student.
Providence Police Colonel Oscar Perez said the person is a man in his 20s.
Police made the arrest at the Hampton Inn in Coventry around 3:45 a.m. after a tip, sources tell ABC News.
According to ABC News law enforcement sources and Coventry police, the individual was in possession of two guns.
#New: Officials confirm a person of interest has been taken into custody.
They were found about 20 miles southwest of campus at the Hampton Inn in Coventry, Rhode Island.
That person is not a Brown student. @ABC6
— Ryan Medeiros (@RRyanmedeiros) December 14, 2025
As of 5:42 a.m. Sunday, Brown University officials had announced the end of a shelter-in-place order on campus that had been in effect since the shooting Saturday.
All campus activities have been canceled for the remainder of the semester.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said the shelter-in-place was also lifted for the surrounding neighborhoods.
Two students were killed and nine others were injured in the shooting, which took place at an engineering building on campus, officials said Saturday.
That building is located at 184 Hope Street.
Of the nine injured, one person was in critical but stable condition, Smiley said Sunday morning.
Seven others were listed in “stable condition,” he said.
One additional person who was injured was released from the hospital, Smiley said.
Police had launched a search for a person of interest depicted in a surveillance video near Hope Street.
#BREAKING: We have our first look at the suspect in the mass shooting at Brown University.
This is the video city officials are releasing — right outside the engineering building where the shooting took place. @ABC6 pic.twitter.com/ovx1R1Cwms
— Ryan Medeiros (@RRyanmedeiros) December 14, 2025
Col. Perez said Sunday police were not looking for any additional people of interest at this time but did not identify the person in custody.
Perez said detectives will collaborate with state prosecutors on the investigation and additional information will be released at a later time.
Perez said the person of interest was in their 30s and a male.
He said there will be an increased police presence around the city Sunday and there is still a crime scene investigation occurring around the area the shooting took place.
Ted Docks, the FBI special agent in charge of the Boston office, told reporters Sunday morning that his division collaborated with Rhode Island State Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, and Providence police in the case.
Brown University canceled all finals scheduled for Sunday, a university official said.
“Given the deeply tragic events that took place on our campus yesterday, all remaining undergraduate, graduate and medical classes, exams, and papers or projects for the Fall 2025 semester will not take place as scheduled,” Provost Francis J. Doyle III said in a statement.
