The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the killer of two students in a mass shooting at Brown University as the manhunt for someone described by the agency as an “unknown suspect with a stocky build” entered its fourth day.
Officials in Rhode Island hope the reward provides a breakthrough in the faltering case, the pace of which has sparked growing community frustration. One “person of interest” was detained then released on Sunday, and FBI director Kash Patel has faced criticism for prematurely declaring it solved.
The move also comes as Providence police appealed to Brown students who were near Saturday’s attack and students prepping for final exams to schedule interviews with investigators. The request was made by the university on Monday night in a post to X, prompting concern from some commentators who noted that many of the students had already left the state capital to return home for the holidays.
Nine other people were also hurt when the shooter entered Brown’s seven-story Barus & Holley engineering building at about 4pm on Saturday and opened fire with a 9mm handgun. In an update to reporters on Monday night, the Democratic Rhode Island governor, Daniel McKee, insisted that everything possible was being done to apprehend the killer.
“We want to see the individual that pulled the trigger on these young kids identified, apprehended and brought to justice,” he said.
The FBI has released video clips of a male individual in dark clothes, about 5ft 8in tall and described as having “a stocky build”. He is considered “armed and dangerous”, the bureau said in an appeal for information on its website announcing the reward.
Investigators, however, do not have a clear image of the suspect’s face, another point of contention for some social media commentators replying to the university’s post. The Ivy League university is among the nation’s wealthiest, with a $7.2bn endowment, raising questions about the quality of its surveillance systems, and why the university itself was not offering a more substantial reward.
Another poster called out what they saw as an “epic failure of leadership” for only seeking to interview student witnesses three days after the shooting occurred.
Frustration is mounting in Providence at the pace of the investigation, which on Monday involved law enforcement canvassing local businesses for video footage.
“The fact that we’re in such a surveillance state but that wasn’t used correctly at all is just so deeply frustrating,” Brown University dance team member Li Ding, a student at the nearby Rhode Island School of Design, told the Associated Press.
“I think honestly, the students are doing a more effective job at taking care of each other than the police,” she added, noting that hundreds of students had signed a petition calling for improved security at campus buildings.
Brown University has numerous cameras, the AP reported – but there are “few” in the Barus & Holley building.
Investigators defended their handling of the case. They insisted that no time was lost in the arrest and subsequent release on Sunday of a 24-year-old man deemed to be a person of interest.
“The investigation continued as the scenes were still active. Nothing was cleared,” Providence police department spokesperson, Kristy dosReis, told the news agency.
The special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston field office, Ted Docks, described the investigation as “painstaking”, including documenting the trajectory of more than 40 bullets fired at the shooting scene.
“We are asking the public to be patient as we continue to run down every lead so we can give victims, survivors, their families and all of you the answers you deserve,” Docks said at the Monday night press conference.
The atmosphere on campus and in the New England city remained one of fear and intense vigilance as Tuesday dawned with no breakthrough.
Saturday’s slain victims were Ella Cook, 19, a second-year student from Mountain Brook, Alabama; and freshman Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, an Uzbek national from Midlothian, Virginia, who immigrated with his family in 2011.
Cook, vice-president of Brown’s chapter of College Republicans of America, was described by her church pastor as “an incredible, grounded, faithful, bright light”. Umurzokov, who wanted to be a neurosurgeon, “always lent a helping hand to anyone in need without hesitation, and was the most kind-hearted person our family knew”, his sister Samira said in a social media post.
Of the nine hurt, one student was released from the hospital, seven others were in critical but stable condition, and one was in critical condition, authorities said in their most recent update on Sunday.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
