New footage of Brown University shooting suspect released by FBI as manhunt continues
The FBI has released new footage of a suspect after two people were killed in a shooting at Brown University Saturday.
The attack took place at around 4 p.m. at the Barus and Holley building, as students flocked to a review session ahead of their final exams. The gunman fled the scene and is still on the run.
The FBI is now offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the suspect’s identification, arrest and conviction, describing him in an alert as having a “stocky” build and being around 5ft 8ins.
In the newly-released footage, the suspect can be seen walking around the university grounds while wearing a dark coat and black gloves. Only the upper half of the individual’s face is visible, as they are wearing a black face mask and a beanie hat.
According to NBC News, the footage was recorded on Hope, Manning and Benevolent Streets, around two hours before the shooting took place.
Providence Police are now urging anyone who recognizes the masked individual to contact them or the FBI.
Police detained a ‘person of interest’ shortly after launching the investigation, later clearing him of suspicion. Guns found in his possession and ballistics recovered at the scene did not match, prompting them to release the 24 year-old man without charge.
“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 and that’s exactly what has happened over the last 24 hours or so,” Attorney General Peter Neronha said of the release, per the PBS report.
FBI director Kash Patel was criticized after uploading a lengthy post on X, touting the work conducted by the FBI in detaining the individual, before it emerged they had got the wrong man.
“Everyone in this admin, from the president on down, rushes to social media to put things out rather than act responsibly and prudently,” Ron Filipkowski, editor of MeidasTouch, wrote.
“The SAME thing happened before,” wrote author Don Winslow, referring to Patel’s botched handling of the manhunt for Charlie Kirk’s killer.
Meanwhile, law enforcement officers have ramped up their presence at Brown University after lifting the lockdown at the college early on Sunday.
As the search continues, the families of the two students killed in the shootings have shared tributes to their loved ones online.
Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov was an aspiring neurosurgeon who had a “huge personality”, his sister Rukhsora Umurzokova said.
She told NBC News that Umurzokov had been inspired to study neurology by a doctor who treated him for a fluid build-up in his brain when he was a child.
His roommate, Khimari Manns, said he tried to contact Umurzokov while sheltering from the shooter in one of the college’s bathroom stalls and became increasingly concerned when he received no reply. He discovered his roommate a day later on Sunday, according to CBS News.
Ella Cook, the Vice President of Brown’s College Republicans of America, was also killed in the attack on Saturday.
Her death was confirmed by Martin Bertao, the CRA president, who described her on X as “bold, brave and kind.”
Reverend Craig Smalley, from the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, also told AL.com about the late student who was one of his parishioners.
He described her as an “incredible, grounded, faithful bright light” as he called on fellow churchgoers to pray for Cook.
