Police sources have told NBC News the identity of a man detained as a “person of interest” after a fatal shooting on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Three senior law enforcement officials, briefed on the investigation, told Sky News’s US partner that the suspect is 24-year-old Benjamin Erickson, who had served several years in the US army.
Two people were killed and nine others, all or nearly all of whom are also believed to be students, were injured in the attack at around 4pm (9pm UK time) on Saturday.
Sources told NBC that authorities are looking into what might be an extensive mental health history for Mr Erickson. Any connection with Brown University is also being investigated.
FBI Director Kash Patel posted details of an arrest at a Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry, about 20 miles (32km) from Providence, early on Sunday, “based off a lead” from Providence police.
According to a statement provided to NBC News from army spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Ruth Castro: “Benjamin W Erickson was an Infantryman (11B) in the Regular Army from May 2021 to November 2024. He has no deployments and left the Army in the rank of specialist.”
Public records show he was living in Washington DC in 2024 and had also been resident in Wisconsin in 2020.
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Providence police chief Colonel Oscar Perez told reporters on Sunday that the investigation is “complex” and progressing “extremely fast”, but refused to elaborate.
The shooting happened inside a classroom on the first floor of the Barus & Holley engineering building, a seven-storey structure home to much of the university’s engineering and physics study and research.
Brown University provost Frank Doyle confirmed that final exams were taking place in the engineering building when the gunman opened fire.
A police official told the AP news agency that the gunman fired more than 40 9mm rounds. A gun has not been recovered, but officers did seize two loaded 30-round magazines.
A video released by officials shows a suspect walking down a street away from the campus and turning a corner, dressed in dark, loose-fitting clothing.
Of those injured, eight people have been described as stable, although one remains critically ill. Another person has left hospital.
Providence mayor Brett Smiley said the order to shelter-in-place for nearby neighbourhoods had been lifted, but some streets remained shut as investigators work at the scene.
“The people of Providence should breathe a little easier this morning,” Mr Smiley added.
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Access to parts of the campus remained restricted on Sunday as police maintained a security perimeter around Minden Hall and nearby apartment buildings.
The site has hundreds of buildings, including lecture halls, laboratories and dorms.
Brown is a private university with roughly 7,300 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate students.
Students hid under desks
Student Chiang-Heng Chien said he was working in one of the labs with three other students when they received a notification about a shooting nearby.
“We decided to turn the light off and close all the doors and hide under our desks, and wait for the next notification after the shooting,” he told reporters.
The students hid under the desks for about two hours.
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“I was hoping that no one’s getting hurt and no one’s dead,” he said.
The students left the building when they received another notification, and security personnel moved in to search the facility.
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Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the Barus & Holley lobby working on a final project when she heard loud popping sounds coming from the eastern side of the building.
For a moment, everyone paused and looked around, she recalled.
Once Ferraro realised the sounds were gunshots, she rushed to the door and ran to a nearby building, where she had been sheltering for the past few hours.
One person who was initially thought to be involved in the shooting was detained but was later determined to have no involvement.
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President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that he had been briefed on the situation, which he called “terrible”.
“All we can do right now is pray for the victims and for those that were very badly hurt,” he added.
