Update: Police announce release of person of interest in shooting at Brown University

First report: Saturday, 6:07 p.m. Broadcast reports are telling us that two are dead and 20 injured in an active shooter situation at Brown University, an Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island.

The shooting began at 4:10 p.m. Saturday, and at this writing, shortly after 6 p.m., about two hours later, the suspect is still on the loose.

The Brown Daily Herald, the campus newspaper, is reporting that the shots rang out on campus, with one student telling the paper that “the shots seemed like they were coming from … where the classrooms are.”

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Update: Saturday, 6:35 p.m. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley confirmed that two people are dead, and eight people are in critical condition in the hospital.

Authorities do not have a suspect in case at this time, Smiley said.

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Update: Saturday, 6:52 p.m.

Deputy Chief of Providence Police gives an update on the Brown University shooting pic.twitter.com/D4xn35pKko

— RebelwithoutaReason (@RebelwoaReason) December 13, 2025

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Update: Sunday, 11:07 a.m. Authorities have a person of interest in custody in connection with the shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday that killed two and wounded nine others.

The man was taken into custody at 3:45 a.m. in Coventry, a town located about a 20-minute drive south via Interstate 95 of the Brown University campus.

According to authorities, the suspect – whose name has not been released at this writing; all we know is that he is a man in his 30s – was apprehended at a Hampton Inn at the Centre of New England Boulevard, a development with a mix of residential neighborhoods, restaurants, stores and hotels.

Basically, your typical off-the-interstate-exit mixed-use monstrosity.

Interesting place to try to hide.

Some details from local media:

• Among those staying at the hotel were folks in town for a cheerleading competition in Providence.
• The owner of a book store located down the street from the Brown University building where the shooting took place said the building’s owner stayed up through the night reviewing footage from a security camera at the location with investigators, and said the group spotted the suspect walking through the neighborhood in the footage.

Brown University announced that it has canceled all remaining classes, exams and projects for the fall semester

“This choice was made out of our profound concern for all students, faculty and staff on our campus. In the immediate aftermath of these devastating events, we recognize that learning and assessment are significantly hindered in the short term and that many students and others will wish to depart campus. Students are free to leave if they are able. Students who remain will have access to on-campus services and support,” Provost Francis J. Doyle III said in an alert issued by the university.

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Update: Sunday, 8:27 p.m. The person of interest in the deadly shooting at Brown University has been identified as Benjamin Erickson, a 24-year-old U.S. Army infantry veteran from Wisconsin who had reportedly transferred from the University of Wisconsin to Brown for the fall 2025 semester, though there are conflicting reports on whether he was an active current student or not.

It is expected that Erickson could face charges in the coming hours, according to published and broadcast reports.

Erickson was reportedly registered to vote as of 2024 in Washington, D.C., listing “statehood party” as his party affiliation.

That could be a reference to the D.C. Statehood Green Party, which resulted from the merger of the Statehood and Green parties in 1999, and has, as an obvious motivating animus, statehood for the District of Columbia.

Erickson did not have a criminal record, per a search of public court databases.

The shooting took place during a final exam review session for an economics class taught by Rachel Friedberg, who also serves as a faculty associate of the school’s Program in Judaic Studies.

Friedberg’s research specifically focuses on economic impacts of immigrants in the U.S. and Israel.

Friedberg served four years on the faculty of the Department of Economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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Update: Sunday, 11:43 p.m. Police have now released the person of interest named in the Brown University shooting, saying the 24-year-old man, Benjamin Erickson, saying there is no justification to keep him in custody.