Police have person of interest in custody over fatal US university shooting

Police in the US said they had a person of interest in custody after a shooting that rocked a Rhode Island university campus during final exams, leaving two people dead and nine others wounded.

Colonel Oscar Perez, chief of the Providence police, confirmed at a news conference that the detained person was aged in their 30s and that authorities were not currently searching for anyone else in connection with the Brown University incident.

He declined to say where the person was arrested and whether the person was connected to the university.

Separately, an FBI agent said that the arrest occurred at a Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry, about 20 miles (32km) from Providence. Officers remained on the scene there, with police tape blocking off a hallway.

The shooting happened on Saturday afternoon in the engineering building of the Ivy League school during final exams.

Hundreds of police officers had scoured the campus and nearby neighbourhoods, and pored over video in pursuit of a gunman who opened fire in a classroom.

Armed with a handgun, the gunman fired more than 40 9mm rounds, according to a law enforcement official.

Authorities had not recovered a gun as of Sunday morning, but had found two loaded 30-round magazines, an official said.

Providence leaders warned that residents would notice a heavier police presence on Sunday. Many local businesses said they would remain closed and expressed shock and heartbreak as the community continued to process the news of the shooting.

“Everybody’s reeling, and we have a lot of recovery ahead of us,” Brown University president Christina Paxson said at the news conference.

“Our community’s strong and we’ll get through it, but it’s devastating.”

Surveillance video released by police showed a suspect, dressed in black, calmly walking away from the scene.

Earlier, Col Paxson said he was told 10 people who were shot were students. Another person was injured by fragments from the shooting but it was not clear if the victim was a student, he said.

The search for the gunman paralysed the campus, nearby residential neighbourhoods and the centre of Rhode Island’s capital city until a shelter-in-place order was lifted early on Sunday.

Streets normally bustling with activity on weekends were quiet. Officers in tactical gear led students out of some campus buildings and into a fitness centre where they waited. Others arrived at the shelter on buses without jackets or any belongings.

Investigators were not immediately sure how the gunman got inside the first-floor classroom. Outer doors of the building were unlocked but rooms being used for final exams required badge access, Providence mayor Brett Smiley said.

Mr Smiley was emotional as he discussed the city’s efforts to prepare for a mass shooting.

“We all, intellectually, knew it could happen anywhere, including here, but that’s not the same as it happening in our community, and so this is an incredibly upsetting and emotional time for Providence, for Brown, for all of us,” he said.

“It’s not something that we should have to train for, but we have.”

Nine people with gunshot wounds were taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where one was in critical condition. Six required intensive care but were not getting worse and two were stable, hospital spokeswoman Kelly Brennan said.

Engineering design exams were under way when the shooting occurred in the Barus & Holley building, a seven-storey complex that houses the school of engineering and physics department. The building includes more than 100 laboratories, and dozens of classrooms and offices, according to the university’s website.

Brown, the seventh oldest higher education institution in the US, is one of the nation’s most prestigious colleges with roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students. Tuition, housing and other fees run to nearly 100,000 US dollars (£75,000) per year, according to the university.