Brown University shooting manhunt continues as mayor urges people to share tips

The police renewed their search on Monday to find the shooter who killed two Brown University students and injured nine others a day after freeing a person of interest. Providence’s mayor urged people to submit information in hopes of identifying the shooter.

The authorities announced liberation of the man Sunday evening after determining the evidence “points in a different direction,” after previously saying they detained him in a hotel in connection with the attack and lifted the lockdown on campus.

The man’s release left law enforcement without a known suspect, with authorities vowing to step up efforts to identify the killer’s identity.

“We have a murderer,” Attorney General Peter Neronha said Sunday evening.

Col. Oscar L. Perez Jr., Providence police chief, said, “We followed a lead. And we followed a specific lead… That’s how investigations work.

“It’s not a mistake. It’s just the way investigations work,” he said.

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said he understands the community is anxious, but there have been no credible threats of further violence since the shooting.

On Monday, he urged people to submit any information, including video or photographic evidence, that could help authorities identify the shooter.

Sunday morning, officials arrested a person of interest at a Hampton Inn in Coventry, Rhode Island, about 20 miles from Providence. Sources told CBS News the individual was a 24-year-old man, although authorities never released his name.

“I’ve been around long enough to know that sometimes you go in one direction and then you have to regroup and go in another, and that’s exactly what happened over the last 24 hours,” Neronha said.

He said there was evidence that pointed to the man being held by authorities, but “that evidence needed to be corroborated and confirmed. And in the last 24 hours leading up to just recently, that evidence is now going in a different direction.”

The gunman opened fire in a classroom in the engineering building, firing more than 40 rounds from a 9mm handgun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

Authorities believe they are looking for a person shown in a short video clip walking away, the mayor said. The person has their back to the camera. Investigators said it was unclear whether the suspect was a student.

A shelter-in-place for Brown University was lifted Sunday morning.

THE the victims of the shooting have been identified like Ella Cook, a sophomore from Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an Uzbek American student.

Smiley told reporters Sunday that seven of those hospitalized remain in stable condition and one in critical condition. Smiley confirmed he spoke to four of the victims.

“The resilience that these survivors have shown and shared with me is honestly quite overwhelming,” he said.

Brown, the seventh oldest institution of higher education in the United States, is one of the most prestigious colleges in the country, with approximately 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students. The remaining classes and exams for the semester have been canceled.