Person Of Interest Released As Police Intensify Manhunt For Brown University Shooter

A person of interest detained over the shooting at Brown University that left two dead and nine injured has been released as law enforcement continues to hunt for the gunman, officials said late Sunday. 

That announcement came one day after a gunman wearing all black stormed an engineering building and opened fire on a group of students studying for finals. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said that evidence pointed law enforcement in a different direction. 

“There was some degree of evidence that pointed to this individual, but that evidence needed to be corroborated and confirmed,” he said at a press conference on Sunday. “That evidence now points in a different direction. So what that means is that this person of interest needs to be, and should be released.”

Neronha added that it was unfortunate that specific information about the person of interest had been leaked to the media. 

“I think what is really unfortunate [is] that this person’s name was leaked to the public. It’s hard to put that back in the bottle, OK? So we’re going to proceed very carefully here,” he said. “
There is too much at stake for the victims of this horrific crime and their families to take chances with respect to this investigation.”

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When the person of interest was initially detained by law enforcement, Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said that authorities were not looking for anyone else in connection with the attack. Perez said Sunday that the person of interest was not the individual captured on video that was released by the police department. Law enforcement is still looking for the person shown in the video.

Video of person of interest in Brown shooting: pic.twitter.com/fjufQ3MTdC

— Providence Police (@ProvidenceRIPD) December 14, 2025

At the same press conference, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said the investigation was ongoing but that they did not believe there was any ongoing threat to the community.  

“We know that this is likely to cause fresh anxiety for our community, and we want to reiterate what we said earlier, which remains true, which is ever since the initial call, now a day and a half ago, we have not received any credible or specific threats to the Providence community,” he said. 

Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee said he spoke with FBI Director Kash Patel before the press conference to inform him that the person of interest would be released. He said Patel told him federal resources would continue to be provided while the search was ongoing.