Brown University mass shooting person of interest to be released
Brown University mass shooting person of interest to be released
Authorities say that the “person of interest” detained in the Brown University shooting is being released.
“We want to inform the community that that individual will shortly be released from Providence Police,” Mayor Brett Smiley said in a surprise briefing that took place at 11 p.m. on the night of Sunday, Dec. 14.
Smiley encouraged anyone with information on the shooting to contact the police and acknowledged that the news was likely “to cause fresh anxiety.”
“We believe that you remain safe in our community, though we will continue to have an enhanced police presence,” he said.
Gov. Dan McKee said that he and Smiley spoke to FBI director Kash Patel by phone and he committed to continue to provide resources.
“This is what these investigations look like,” Attorney General Peter Neronha said at the news conference. “Sometimes you head in one direction and you have to go in another.”
Neronha said that tips “led to us detaining a person of interest,” but that the evidence “now points in a different direction.”
“It’s really unfortunate that this person’s name was leaked to the public,” he said. “It’s hard to put that back in the bottle.”
Smiley said that law enforcement officials are looking for additional video evidence, and that people who live in the neighborhood should expect to see Providence Police and other law enforcement officers going door to door. He said that all the surveillance video from inside the building has been examined and there was no additional “actionable” video.
During questions from the press, Neronha said that there was a “quantum of evidence” that justified detaining the person of interest, but noted that evidence at the scene needed to be tested, and suggested that the tests did not prove a link. He declined to say what kind of evidence was at issue.
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Neronha said that Providence Police and other law enforcement agencies continued to work other leads while the person of interest was detained. He and Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez both noted that it is normal for people of interest to be detained in the course of an investigation, and then released if there is no evidence to press charges.
Unlike other press conferences held on the shooting, no members of federal agencies were involved in the Sunday night press conference.
While federal law enforcement is involved, Neronha said the investigation ultimately is Providence’s case, “and they are the leader, and they have the most boots on the ground.”
Smiley said that the shelter in place advisory was lifted because “we have not received a single additional threat to the Brown community, to the Providence community, to the Rhode Island community” since the shooting. That hasn’t changed, he said.
Smiley said that there’s “no way of knowing” if the shooter is still in the community, however, and acknowledged that would probably lead to increased anxiety. He urged people in the Hope and Waterman Street area to contact law enforcement if they have any video footage that could be relevant to the investigation.
Asked whether police had additional video from inside the Brown building where the shooting occurred that would help identify the shooter, Smiley said none had been found yet.
“The video from Brown has been reviewed and the video shared yesterday is the most useful that can be shared,” he said.
“If there was a video that showed a face, you would have it,” Neronha told reporters.
“We’re not holding back videos that we think would be useful,” Neronha said in response to questions. He said that the building where the shooting took place is “an old building attached to a new one” and there just weren’t many cameras.
“We have a murderer out there, frankly,” Neronha said.
Neronha said that lab testing to link a person of interest with evidence from the scene can take an entire day, and those tests can come back positive or negative. “Here, they came back negative, so we’re in a position where we are now going to release that person of interest,” he said. “But that’s the way these investigations work.”
Providence Journal reporter Patrick Anderson contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Brown University mass shooting person of interest to be released
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