Police in Rhode Island were searching for a suspect late on Saturday after a shooting at Brown University in Providence left two students dead and eight others critically wounded at the Ivy League school, officials said. A ninth person was hurt by bullet fragments, the mayor said.
Streets around campus remained blocked and packed with emergency vehicles hours after the shooting and law enforcement officials heightened security around the city as police continued their manhunt.
"The individual responsible is still at large," Mayor Brett Smiley told reporters at a 9:30 p.m. (0230 GMT) press conference. Deputy Police Chief Timothy O’Hara said the suspect had not been identified.
Officials said they are looking for a male dressed in black and were releasing a video of the suspect, who O’Hara said may have been wearing a mask. He said officials had retrieved shell casings from the scene of the shooting, but that police were not prepared to release details.
Officials said the gunman escaped after shooting students in Brown's Barus & Holley engineering building, where exams were taking place at the time.
"We are a week and a half away from Christmas. And two people died today, and another eight are in the hospital," Smiley said earlier in the evening. "So please pray for those families."
Brown is on College Hill in Providence, Rhode Island's state capital. The university has hundreds of buildings, including lecture halls, laboratories and dormitories.
"This is the day one hopes never happens, and it has," Brown's President Christina Paxson told reporters, confirming all or nearly all of the victims were students.
As news of the shooting spread, the school told students to shelter in place.
