Police fan out to Providence schools to calm worries with the Brown University shooter still loose

Police have determined there is no basis to keep a person of interest in the deadly Brown University shooting in custody.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Additional police were sent to Providence schools on Tuesday to reassure worried parents that their kids will be safe with the Brown University shooter on the loose and no indication yet that investigators have zeroed in on a specific suspect in the weekend attack.

Authorities released several new videos Monday of the man suspected in Saturday’s mass shooting inside of a Brown classroom, which killed two students and wounded nine others. After releasing a person of interest in the case on Sunday because the evidence pointed elsewhere, they pleaded with the public for any tips that might help them catch the attacker.

“We’re asking for the public’s assistance,” Providence’s police chief, Col. Oscar Perez, said at a news conference, urging people who might recognize the suspect to call a tip line.

Anxiety is high in Providence, with investigators knocking on doors and poring through dumpsters and backyards near the Ivy League campus on Monday in search of additional video evidence or other clues. Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee requested additional police be sent to the city’s schools to provide reassurance.

In the five videos authorities have released of the suspect, he was wearing a mask or his face was turned. The FBI described him as about 5 feet, 8 inches (173 centimetres) tall, with a stocky build.

As questions swirl about campus security and the police response to the shooting, details have begun to emerge about the victims, who were in the first-floor classroom in the school’s engineering building studying for a final.

Only one of the wounded students had been released as of Sunday, Brown President Christina Paxson said. One was in critical condition and the other seven were in critical but stable condition. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said Monday that none of their conditions had worsened, but that he didn’t have further information.

Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore who was one of the two students killed, was vice president of the Brown College Republicans and beloved in her church in Birmingham, Alabama.

In announcing her death Sunday, the Rev. R. Craig Smalley described her as “an incredible grounded, faithful, bright light” who encouraged and “lifted up those around her.”

The other student who was killed was MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman from Brandermill, Virginia, who was majoring in biochemistry and neuroscience. His family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan when he was a kid.

As a child, Umurzokov suffered a neurological condition that required surgery, and he later wore a back brace because of scoliosis, his sister Samira Umurzokova told The Associated Press by phone. He knew from an early age that he wanted to be a neurosurgeon to help others like himself.

“He had so many hardships in his life, and he got into this amazing school and tried so hard to follow through with the promise he made when was 7 years old,” she said.

One of the wounded students, 18-year-old freshman Spencer Yang of New York City, told the New York Times and the Brown Daily Herald from a hospital bed that there was a mad scramble after the gunman entered the room where he and the other students were studying for finals. Many students ran toward the front of the room, but Yang said he wound up on the ground between some seats and was shot in the leg.

Yang, who expects to be discharged in the coming days, said he tried to keep some of the more seriously wounded students conscious until police arrived.

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By Kimberlee Kruesi And Leah Willingham

Contributing were Associated Press journalists Jennifer McDermott and Matt O’Brien in Providence; Brian Slodysko in Washington; Michael Casey in Boston; Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; and Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas.