PROVIDENCE: At least two people were killed and eight others injured after a gunman dressed in black opened fire at Brown University on Saturday, during final examinations on the Ivy League campus, authorities said.
Police officers spread out across the campus and into an affluent neighborhood lined with historic brick homes, searching classrooms, backyards and porches after the shooting erupted.
The suspect was a male in dark clothing who was last seen leaving the engineering building where the attack happened, said Timothy O'Hara, Deputy Chief of Police.
Authorities believe the shooter used a handgun, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity as the probe remains ongoing.
Rhode Island has some of the strictest gun laws in the United States. Last spring, the Democratic-controlled Legislature approved an assault-weapons ban that will bar the sale and manufacture of certain high-powered firearms, though not their possession, when it takes effect next July.
"The unthinkable has happened," Democratic Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said a shelter-in-place was in effect and encouraged people living near the campus to stay inside and not to return home until it is lifted.
"We have all available resources" to find the suspect, Smiley said.
Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the engineering building's lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops coming from the east side.
Once she realized they were gunshots, she darted for the door and ran to a nearby building where she was waited for a couple of hours.
Eight people with gunshot wounds were rushed to Rhode Island Hospital, where six were listed in critical but stable condition, according to a hospital spokesperson Kelly Brennan. Another patient was in critical condition, while one was reported to be stable.
University officials initially informed students and staff that a suspect had been taken into custody, but later clarified that this was not the case. The mayor said a person initially believed to be involved was detained briefly before authorities determined there was no connection to the shooting.
Nearly five hours after the shooting, officers in tactical gear led students out of some campus buildings and into a fitness center.
The shooting took place inside the Barus & Holley building, a seven-storey complex that houses Brown University’s School of Engineering and its physics department. The university’s website says the facility contains more than 100 laboratories, along with dozens of classrooms and offices.
Engineering design exams were underway there when the shooting occurred.
Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm directly across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside and received a text about an active shooter shortly after 4 p.m.
"I'm just in here shaking," he said, watching through the window as a half-dozen armed officers in tactical gear surrounded his dorm. He said he feared for a friend who he thought was inside the engineering building at the time.
Students in a nearby lab hid under desks and turned off the lights after receiving an alert about the shooting, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering who was about a block away from the scene.
Mari Camara, 20, a junior from New York City, was coming out of the library and rushed inside a taqueria to seek shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting friends while police searched the campus.
"Everyone is the same as me, shocked and terrified that something like this happened," she said.
President Donald Trump told reporters that he had been briefed on the shooting and "all we can do right now is pray for the victims."
"It's a shame," he said in brief remarks at the White House.
The FBI said it was assisting in the response.
Brown, the seventh oldest higher education institution in the U.S., is one of the nation's most prestigious colleges, with roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students. Tuition, housing and other fees run to nearly $100,000 per year, according to the university.