Authorities have identified a person of interest in the Brown University mass shooting, almost five days after the violent incident killed two and left the campus shaken. An unidentified gunman opened fire on the Brown University campus in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday, and investigators have since struggled to trace the suspect.
Authorities have finally identified the person whose face they have been trying to pinpoint using grainy surveillance footage. However, the name of the person of interest has not yet released by the authorities, and no arrests have been made. Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov from Virginia and Ella Cook from Alabama died in the shooting at Brown University on Saturday.
Gunman Likely Nabbed
The students were attending a study session in the Ivy League school's School of Engineering Barus and Holley Building when a gunman entered shortly after 4 p.m. and opened fire. The attacker fired roughly 40 rounds, leaving two students dead and 12 others injured.
This comes just hours after investigators noted a potential connection between the Brown shooting and the recent assassination of MIT researcher Nuno Loureiro.
Two days after the Brown University shooting, around 8:30 p.m. on Monday, married father-of-three Nuno Loureiro was shot and killed in his Brookline, Boston home.
His neighbor and friend, Louise Cohen, said she found his body after hearing gunfire disturb the quiet of their neighborhood on Gibbs Street. Cohen, who was lighting a menorah candle at the time, rushed to the hallway and found Loureiro lying on his back.
His wife, heartbroken, was nearby with another neighbor as they frantically called 911. Loureiro was rushed to the hospital but died the next day.
Neighbors remembered the MIT professor as a kind-hearted and "wonderful man," while students gathered for a candle-lit vigil to honor his memory.
The tragedy comes amid criticism of Brown University President Christina Paxson, who faced backlash for her comments on the shooting, tying the attack to gun reform issues.
School Still Shaken
The Ivy League university's president expressed that she was "deeply saddened" by the criticism of her response to the tragic events. "As time goes on, there is a natural instinct to assign responsibility for tragic events like this," Paxson, who reportedly made more than $3.1million in 2023, said Tuesday. 'Anxiety here is very natural, but the shooter is responsible.'
"Horrific gun violence took the lives of these students and hospitalized others. It's deeply sad and tragic that schools across the country are targets of violence, Brown is no exception," she added.
However, Paxson's recent remarks did little to calm the frustration, as many people again directed their anger at the university president, viewing her response as insufficient.
"Kind of a bizarre quiet part out loud – You may be tempted to blame a violent terrorist or even a failed security apparatus when an innocent person is murdered... but don't forget... it's actually the gun's fault," former GOP communications staffer Matt Whitlock wrote on X.
