Brown University murder victim’s friend blasts school security preparedness

A former Brown University student and friend of Ella Cook, who was murdered by a lone gunman at the university earlier this month, said the Ivy League school’s lack of preparation and resources to catch the killer was no surprise.

Brown’s misguided financial priorities are to blame for how a killer was able to enter and exit university facilities undetected, Alex Shieh told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview:

“I don’t think it’s particularly surprising that the older buildings on campus have never been equipped with updated security systems, because that’s not the priority for spending, and they know that people will want to come to Brown anyway, regardless of the facilities, because of the Ivy League name,” Shieh said.

“It’s a little confusing to people that you have a school that costs $100,000 a year and an $8 billion endowment,” Shieh said. “Why doesn’t the building have cameras?”

Shared image showing Brown University victims Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov alongside MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, who was killed. (Instagram/elinacoutlakis/GoFundMe/Jake Belcher for MIT)

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Shieh is no stranger to what he sees as bloated and wasteful spending on Brown’s part. During his years at the school, he served as editor of the university’s student newspaper, the Brown Spectator, and caused a stir when he began asking questions about administrators’ incomes and what they do on the job.

Shieh sent a survey to administrators, asking them to detail their work after being inspired by President Donald Trump’s DOGE, but faced opposition from faculty. He pointed out that administrators make millions, while facilities and students’ quality of life suffer.

Brown took disciplinary action against the former student, initially claiming he caused emotional and psychological harm, violated privacy, misrepresented the university and violated operating rules.

Former Brown University student Alex Shieh faced disciplinary charges from the school for trying to uncover unnecessary administrative expenses.

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“There are about 4,000 administrators in a school of about 11,000 students,” Shieh said. “And it seemed strange to me, and it seemed very clear to me that this growth and this explosion in the number of personnel administrators is what has led to a precipitous increase in tuition across the country, but particularly at a school like Brown University.”

“The courses are not necessarily what distinguishes [Brown] from other schools, not the caliber of the facilities, not the caliber of the dormitories, but [what] What really sets Brown apart and makes it worth it to some people is the fact that Brown is in the Ivy League,” Shieh added.

Brown’s aggressive response to Shieh’s reporting prompted a House Judiciary Committee hearing in June, with Shieh as a witness, to discuss free speech issues as well as the Ivy League’s ill-advised and excessive spending.

Interior view of Barus and Holley Room 166. on the campus of Brown University in Providence, RI. On Saturday, December 13, around 4 p.m., a masked, armed man entered a review session in room 166 of Barus & Holley for ECON 0110: “Principles of Economics,” shouted something indiscernible, and opened fire. (Kenna Lee/The Brown Daily Herald)

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The university ultimately dropped all charges against Shieh, who questioned whether some of the waste he hoped to expose might be the reason the facilities weren’t equipped with cameras or better security.

“They use their money in really stupid ways,” Shieh said. “It’s like paying millions of dollars a year to the athletic director of a small Ivy League school and having an excessive number of administrators on staff.”

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Shieh, who like Cook was a member of the school’s College Republicans, said he was shocked when he learned she had been murdered.

“She was just a really nice person and everyone was respected, and no one really had a problem with her on campus, which is why it was so surprising that this would happen to her, among other things,” Shieh said.

A homeless man living on the Brown University campus was one of the key witnesses helping investigators find the killer. (FBI-Boston)

On November 13, Claudio Neves-Valente entered Brown’s campus and killed Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov before traveling 50 miles to Brookline, Massachusetts, and killing MIT nuclear physicist Nuno Loureiro two days later, authorities said.

Neves-Valente avoided capture and a multi-day manhunt followed. He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot in a storage shed Thursday evening in Salem, New Hampshire.

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Law enforcement officials and investigators are thanking a homeless man who lived on Brown’s campus for recounting his interaction with Neves-Valente that ultimately led to the shooter.

If Brown University had been equipped with preventive technology and had cameras in the facilities targeted by the shooter, it is possible that the shooter would have been apprehended and the MIT professor would not have been killed.

Preston Mizell is a writer for Fox News. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston