PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — The gunman who killed two Brown University students and wounded nine others remained at large late Sunday after authorities announced they released the man detained earlier in the day as a person of interest.
At a hastily called 11 p.m. news conference, Attorney General Peter Neronha said lab tests on evidence linked to the detained man “came back negative,” and that the evidence “now points in a different direction.”
“There is no basis to consider him a person of interest,” Neronha said.
Asked whether the shooter is still in the Providence area, Mayor Brett Smiley said, “We have no way of knowing.”
Smiley acknowledged the development could cause “fresh anxiety” for Providence residents, but said there have been no credible threats since Saturday’s attack. He urged anyone with video from the area of Hope and Waterman streets on Saturday to contact the FBI at fbi.gov/brownuniversityshooting or call Providence police at (401) 272-3121.
Neronha said the investigation remains active, with dozens of officers and six prosecutors working the case, but said officials were limited in what details they could share.
“We have not yet solved this case, but I’m confident we’re going to do that,” he said. “Obviously we have a murderer out there, frankly, so we’re not going to give away the game plan.”
Below is an archived live blog that chronicled Sunday night’s developments.
12:13 a.m. | Officials are receiving a lot of questions, some of them incredulous, at the limited video evidence of the shooter that the public has seen so far.
They said at the news conference that the brief snippet below, released Saturday, remains “most useful that we have at this time.” They have also said there was little if any useful video from inside the building at Brown where the shooting occurred. And AG Neronha said if there was video available showing the gunman’s face, it would be released.
12:01 a.m. | Mayor Smiley emphasized that authorities aren’t aware of any specific threats to Providence since the shooting, though he acknowledged the news that no one is in custody could cause “fresh anxiety” among residents.
11:45 p.m. | AG Neronha confirmed that lab testing, which can take a full day, is what led to the person of interest being released. He said the tests “came back negative.” Target 12 reported earlier in the day that authorities had recovered two guns in the Coventry hotel room where they detained the person of interest.
Neronha also said of that individual, “There is no basis to consider him a person of interest.”
11:42 p.m. | Mayor Smiley is asking the public to share all tips and relevant information related to the shooting via either the FBI’s special website at fbi.gov/brownuniversityshooting or by calling Providence police’s designated tip line: (401) 272-3121.
11:36 p.m. | Governor McKee said he spoke with FBI Director Kash Patel tonight to discuss the status of the investigation. No federal authorities spoke at the news conference.
11:27 p.m. | Neronha, explaining why they are still withholding some details: “Obviously we have a murderer out there, frankly. So we’re not going to give away the game plan.”
11:25 p.m. | Neronha flashes frustration at some of the questions: “We’re not holding back video that we think would be useful, and I don’t think I should even have to say it.”
11:16 p.m. | Facing questions about why the individual now being released was detained, Attorney General Neronha defends the decision, saying there was “a quantum of evidence that justified detaining this person as a person of interest.”
11:14 p.m. | Is the shooter still in the community? “We have no way of knowing,” the mayor replies.
11:13 p.m. | Mayor Smiley makes another plea for anyone in the area of Hope and Waterman streets to reach out to police or the FBI if they have any video that could help them with the case.
11:09 p.m. | Neronha says, “We have not yet solved this case, but I’m confident we’re going to do that, and I’m confident we’re going to do that in the very near future.” He suggested evidence “now points in a different direction.”
Providence Police Col. Oscar Perez follows, saying this is how investigations work and why authorities have been so careful about what information they release.
“This was a very complex investigation and it still is,” Perez says.
11:06 p.m. | Attorney General Peter Neronha steps up to explain the status of the investigation. He calls the case “very difficult” in terms of developing evidence. “That work continues.”
“I think it is really unfortunate that this person’s name was leaked to the public,” says Neronha. “It’s hard to put that back in the bottle. OK?”
11:04 p.m. | An extraordinary announcement by Mayor Smiley, explaining why this news conference has been called: the individual detained this morning as a person of interest in the Brown shooting will be released, indicating at the least that there is not enough evidence to charge him.
Mayor Smiley, Governor McKee and other officials look grave. Attorney General Peter Neronha will speak next.
10:59 p.m. | The city has said about as little as you possibly could about why they have called this surprise news conference. The advisory to news outlets said only: “Mayor Smiley will join with Providence Police and Fire Department officials to provide an update on yesterday’s shooting incident.”
10:55 p.m. | The news conference has now been delayed again, this time to 11 p.m. Our crew is already in place, and we will carry the news conference live on air and online whenever it starts.
10:51 p.m. | The news conference was originally scheduled for 10:30 p.m., then delayed 15 minutes, and has not begun as of this minute. It was called so quickly, and on a Sunday night, that some news outlets may still be racing to get there.
10:50 p.m. | Perhaps the biggest question as we await the start of this news conference: what do authorities currently believe about the person of interest detained early this morning?
The individual has not been described as a suspect so far, and no charges have been announced, more than 18 hours after the person was taken from a Coventry hotel to police headquarters in Providence.
Target 12 has confirmed the individual is a man in his 20s from Wisconsin, and that two weapons were recovered from his hotel room. They were expected to be sent out for testing.
