The person of interest arrested in the Brown University shooting has been released, and no other suspects have been detained, police said Sunday night.
Cops had taken a 24-year-old man from Wisconsin into custody early Sunday morning, but on Sunday night they released him after failing to find evidence to press charges.
“We have a murderer out there,” said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha.
An attacker walked into a classroom on Brown’s campus in Providence on Saturday afternoon and fatally shot two people while wounding nine others, police said. The initial person of interest was detained at a hotel room about 15 miles south nearly 12 hours later.
The two deceased victims were identified Monday as Ella Cook, a second-year student from Alabama, and Muhammad Aziz Umurzakov, a first-year student from Uzbekistan who had recently graduated from a high school in Virginia, according to NBC News.
Investigators said they found multiple weapons when they detained the initial person of interest, and there were no other suspects throughout Sunday. However, that did not lead to charges.
Cops said the investigation would resume in a different direction but acknowledged no other people were immediately on their radar.
“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,” Neronha said.
Officials said the best lead on a suspect remained video of a person walking slowly down a street and away from the crime scene in the minutes after the shooting. The person’s face cannot be seen on camera; they are seen wearing dark clothing.
Authorities asked the public for help in identifying the shooter. They also insisted Providence and Brown’s campus remained safe, despite initially ordering people to shelter in place for hours following the shooting.
With News Wire Services