Brown University Gunman at Large as Tensions Mount Between FBI and Providence Police

The search for the gunman behind a deadly shooting at Brown University moves into a third day amid reports of tension between local police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.The Providence Police Department has released new videos and a photo of a man dressed in dark clothing who they believe is a person of interest. Investigators believe the footage shows the same individual featured in a video released to the public Sunday in which the man’s face was concealed.The head of the FBI’s Boston office says the agency is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter who opened fire in a Brown University classroom during an exam review, killing two students and injuring nine others. The two victims were identified as 18-year-old Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and 19-year-old Ella Cook.The economics class that was attacked is taught by a Jewish professor, Rachel Friedberg, who conducts research on the intersection of economics and Jewish studies. Police have not identified any antisemitic motive behind the shooting, though speculation has mounted online.The updates late Monday came hours after authorities released a 24-year-old man from Wisconsin who was detained Sunday morning based on a tip received by the Providence Police. The Federal Bureau of Investigation used cellphone data to locate the individual at a hotel room in Rhode Island, where they discovered a gun matching the description of the weapon used in the attack.The man’s identity initially was withheld by officials though it was later leaked to the press. He was released on Sunday evening in part because investigators concluded that the gun found in his possession and the ballistics recovered at the crime scene did not match, law enforcement officials told NBC News. Rhode Island’s attorney general, Peter Neronha, said Monday that there was only “a quantum of evidence which justified detaining this person as a person of interest.”The catch-and-release prompted an outpouring of backlash directed at FBI Director Kash Patel, who was criticized for touting the development prematurely. Mr. Patel posted a lengthy message on X Sunday detailing how the bureau deployed its “Cellular Analysis Survey Team to provide critical geolocation capabilities,” which led agents to detain “a person of interest in a hotel room in Coventry, RI.”Mr. Patel has previously been accused of getting ahead of himself during ongoing investigations. Following the murder of conservative figurehead Charlie Kirk, Mr. Patel faced backlash for announcing on X that a suspect was in custody when the shooter had not yet been apprehended.The handling of the 24-year-old’s detainment and release prompted the former deputy commissioner of the New York City Police Department, John Miller, to share his suspicion that there has been “friction” between the Providence police and the FBI over the ordeal. In an interview with CNN, Mr. Miller said his assessment was guided by “a couple of interesting tells” he identified during the Sunday night press conference, including when the Providence Police Chief specifically noted that while his department received the tip, it was the FBI that followed through on it. “Police were very careful to subtly point out during this press conference, this was an FBI-handled lead,” Mr. Miller said.“Has there been some friction between the Providence police and the FBI today over this? I’m going to tell you there has been,” Mr. Miller added.Adding fuel to the fire, President Trump on Monday appeared to suggest that the case’s lack of progress was the fault of the Rhode Island school, not the FBI. When asked about the FBI’s difficulty identifying the shooter, Mr. Trump responded: “You’d really have to ask the school a little bit more about that because this was a school problem.”The president continued by noting that Brown University “had their own guards. They had their own police. They had their own everything, but you’d have to ask that question really to the school, not to the FBI. We came in after the fact, and the FBI will do a good job, but they came in after the fact.”

Brown University Gunman at Large as Tensions Mount Between FBI and Providence Police

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