Authorities in Rhode Island are in a fourth day of an intensive manhunt for the gunman who opened fire in a Brown University engineering building on December 13, 2025, killing two students and wounding nine others during a final exam review session. Federal and local investigators have released photos, video and a physical description of the suspect, but they still do not know his identity or motive. The FBI is urging the public to scour personal devices and neighborhood cameras for images that might help track the shooter’s movements before and after the attack.

Image Illustration. Photo by Karollyne Videira Hubert on Unsplash

A Deadly Attack During Finals Week

The shooting unfolded just after 4 p.m. on December 13 inside the Barus and Holley engineering building, which houses Brown’s School of Engineering and physics department, as students prepared for final exams. A single gunman entered a 186-seat lecture hall where an introductory economics review session was underway and opened fire, killing two students and injuring nine others, all of them members of the Brown community. Officials say the weapon was a 9mm handgun, based on shell casings recovered at the scene.

Two students, identified in subsequent reports as 20-year-old Ella Cook and 21-year-old Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, died of their injuries, while nine others were transported to Rhode Island Hospital with gunshot or shrapnel wounds. As of December 16, at least two of the wounded had been discharged and seven remained hospitalized, most in stable or critical-but-stable condition, according to local officials and hospital updates. More than 400 law-enforcement officers ultimately responded to the campus in the hours after the attack.

How Investigators Describe the Suspect

Despite the release of several still images and enhanced video clips, investigators say they still do not know who the suspect is. Surveillance footage from inside campus buildings is limited, complicating the search. But authorities have been able to assemble a basic description of the man they believe carried out the shooting.

According to the FBI and Providence police, the suspect is described as a man roughly 5 feet 8 inches tall with a stocky build. In videos released by city officials and the FBI, he appears to be wearing a dark beanie, a mask covering most of his face, a green or dark two-tone jacket and black gloves, and is repeatedly seen walking alone through residential streets bordering the campus before entering and after leaving the engineering building. Officials have repeatedly emphasized that the man should be considered armed and dangerous.

At a news conference, Providence officials played a compilation of clips captured by neighborhood cameras showing the suspect’s apparent route on the afternoon of the shooting, including walking near Manning, Cooke and George streets, then toward Hope Street and back toward the engineering complex shortly before 3 p.m. Additional footage appears to show him calmly leaving the area after the gunfire as police cars converge on the building, reinforcing investigators’ belief that he escaped on foot before officers reached the scene.

A Manhunt Complicated by Limited Cameras and Bad Weather

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha has said one of the main challenges for investigators is the lack of internal surveillance cameras in the portion of the Barus and Holley building where the shooting occurred, describing it as an older structure on the edge of campus with limited coverage. That has left authorities heavily reliant on exterior campus cameras and private security systems in nearby homes and institutions, including footage hosted on commercial platforms like Ring and other smart doorbell networks, to reconstruct the suspect’s movements.

Compounding those gaps, a snowfall the night after the attack likely destroyed or obscured some of the most fragile physical evidence, including footprints and trace materials in the vicinity of the building, according to investigators leading the case. That has put even greater pressure on digital evidence and eyewitness accounts as detectives work to identify the suspect and determine how he gained access to the building and whether he had any prior connection to the campus or victims.

Reward, Tips and a Released ‘Person of Interest’

Within days of the attack, the FBI announced a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the individual responsible for the shooting. The bureau’s Boston field office, which is leading the federal component of the investigation, has set up a dedicated tip line and an online portal where members of the public can upload photos, videos or other digital evidence that might capture the suspect or the shooting itself. Officials are also encouraging residents to share the suspect images widely on social media in the hope that someone will recognize his clothing, gait or other distinctive traits.

The investigation has already produced at least one high-profile misstep. On December 14, Providence police detained a man described as a “person of interest” following a raid at a hotel outside the city, briefly raising hopes that the suspect might be in custody. The man was released later that same day, after ballistics testing showed that his firearm did not match evidence recovered at the scene and investigators concluded there was “no basis” to consider him a suspect or person of interest. Neronha later stressed that the man is “not on our radar,” while acknowledging that the episode underscored both the urgency and complexity of the case.

Campus on Edge and Questions About Security

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Brown University ordered a campus-wide shelter-in-place that lasted into the early hours of December 14, while Providence police searched buildings and nearby blocks for any sign of the gunman. Even after the order was lifted, parts of campus, including the Barus and Holley building, remained off-limits because they were considered active crime scenes, and the university announced that all remaining classes, exams and coursework for the fall semester would be canceled or rescheduled. Administrators said the decision was driven by concern for students’ mental health and the ongoing security situation on and around campus.

The still-unsolved shooting has deepened anxieties about campus safety at Brown and across Rhode Island. Gov. Dan McKee has ordered a statewide review of school security plans, and Providence police have stepped up patrols in neighborhoods surrounding the university. Nationally, colleges and universities have faced mounting pressure in recent years to bolster active-shooter preparedness and invest in comprehensive camera networks, building access controls and threat-assessment protocols, especially after mass shootings at institutions like Michigan State University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Federal data show that firearm-related homicides in the U.S. rose sharply over the past decade, even as overall campus crime has fluctuated year to year.

What Remains Unknown About the Shooter’s Motive

Four days after the attack, investigators have not publicly identified any clear motive. They have not said whether they believe the suspect had a personal connection to Brown University, the economics course that was targeted, or any of the victims.

Law-enforcement officials have confirmed that the shooter appears to have acted alone and that there is no evidence of continuing danger to the campus from additional assailants. But with the suspect still at large, Providence’s mayor and university leaders have conceded that students and residents are likely to feel on edge until an arrest is made and more answers emerge about why an exam review session became the site of one of the deadliest campus shootings in recent Rhode Island history.

How the Public Can Help the Investigation

Authorities are appealing for help from anyone who might have been near Brown University on December 13 or who lives or works within walking distance of the campus. They have specifically asked residents to review recordings from home security systems, dashcams and smartphones between roughly 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. that day for images of a man matching the suspect’s description in the vicinity of Hope Street, Waterman Street and surrounding blocks.

Members of the public can submit tips by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or contacting Providence police directly. Digital media can be uploaded through an FBI portal dedicated to the case. Investigators stress that even seemingly minor details—such as a glimpse of the suspect changing direction on a side street or entering a parking lot—could help them map his movements and, eventually, identify who he is and where he went after leaving the campus.

An Unsettling Wait for Answers

As finals week gives way to an early and abrupt end to the semester, Brown University students and staff are mourning classmates and trying to process the violence that erupted in a space usually associated with exams and lectures, not gunfire. Memorials have sprung up outside the engineering complex as vigils and counseling sessions draw hundreds of participants both on campus and in local churches and community centers.

For now, the description of the suspect remains chillingly generic: a masked, stocky man of average height in a dark jacket, captured in grainy video moving purposefully toward, and later away from, the scene of the attack. Until his name and background are known, and until investigators can explain why he walked into a Brown classroom with a handgun, the community is left with an uneasy mix of grief, vigilance and unresolved questions—waiting for the moment when surveillance stills and reward posters finally match a real identity and an arrest.