Authorities say they will release person of interest detained in Brown University shooting

PROVIDENCE R I AP A person of interest detained after a Brown University shooting that killed two students and injured nine will be circulated after law enforcement leadership determined there was no basis to keep the individual in custody administrators announced Sunday night The disclosure made at a hastily convened late night news conference represents a dramatic setback in an review into killings that set off hours of chaos on the Ivy League campus and unravels progress that government thought they had made earlier in the day when they detained a man at a Rhode Island hotel in connection with the attack No current suspect in deadly shooting The release of the lone person of interest leaves law enforcement without any known suspect with functionaries pledging to redouble efforts in the scrutiny by canvassing for video surveillance that could help pinpoint the killer s identity We have a murderer out there mentioned Attorney General Peter Neronha while Providence Mayor Brett Smiley acknowledged that the news is likely to cause fresh anxiety for our population Despite an enhanced police presence at Brown agents are not recommending another shelter-in-place order like the one that followed the Saturday afternoon shooting when hundreds of officers searched for the shooter and urged students and staff to shelter in place The lockdown which stretched into the night was lifted early Sunday but agents had not yet distributed information about a anticipated motive On Sunday morning functionaries took into custody a person of interest at a Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry Rhode Island about miles kilometers from Providence Two people familiar with the matter identified that individual as a -year-old man from Wisconsin though bureaucrats never distributed the individual s name I ve been around long enough to know that sometimes you head in one direction and then you have to regroup and go in another and that s exactly what has happened over the last hours or so Neronha explained He disclosed that certainly there was several degree of evidence that pointed to the individual who d been taken into custody but that evidence needed to be corroborated and substantiated And over the last hours leading into just very very lately that evidence now points in a different direction Shooting occurred during busy period on campus The shooting occurred during one of the busiest moments of the academic calendar as final exams were underway Brown canceled all remaining classes exams papers and projects for the semester and reported students they could leave campus underscoring the scale of the disruption and the gravity of the attack As police scoured the area for the shooter multiple students remained barricaded in rooms while others hid behind furniture and bookshelves One video manifested students in a library shaking and wincing as they heard loud bangs just before police entered the room to clear the building University President Christina Paxson teared up while describing her conversations with students both on campus and in the hospital They are amazing and they re supporting each other she commented at a news conference There s just a lot of gratitude The gunman opened fire inside a classroom in the engineering building firing more than rounds from a mm handgun a law enforcement official reported AP Two handguns were recovered when the person of interest was taken into custody and officers also ascertained two loaded -round magazines the official explained One of the firearms was equipped with a laser sight that projects a dot to aid in targeting revealed the official who was not authorized to discuss the study publicly and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity One trainee of the nine wounded students had been issued from the hospital mentioned Paxson Seven others were in critical but stable condition and one was in critical condition Durham Academy a private K- school in Durham North Carolina proven that a fresh graduate Kendall Turner was critically wounded The school declared her parents were with her Our school region is rallying around Kendall her classmates and her loved ones and we will continue to offer our full sponsorship in the days ahead the school stated Public comes together to remember casualties On Sunday evening city leaders residents and others gathered at a park to honor the casualties The event originally was scheduled as a Christmas tree and Hanukkah menorah lighting For those who know at least bit of the Hanukkah story it is quite clear that if we can come together as a society to shine a little bit of light tonight there s nothing better that we can be doing Mayor Brett Smiley disclosed at a news conference earlier in the day Smiley revealed he visited certain wounded students and was inspired by their courage hope and gratitude One narrated him that functioning shooting drills done in high school proved helpful The resilience that these survivors demonstrated and shared with me is frankly pretty overwhelming he revealed Exams were underway when the shooting began Investigators were not promptly sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom at the Barus Holley building a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department The building includes more than laboratories dozens of classrooms and offices according to the university s website Engineering design exams were underway Outer doors of the building were unlocked but rooms being used for final exams required badge access Smiley declared Emma Ferraro a chemical engineering learner was in the lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops Once she realized they were gunshots she darted for the door and into a nearby building where she waited for hours Surveillance video distributed by police indicated a suspect dressed in black walking from the scene Former Survivor contestant left the building just before shooting Eva Erickson a doctoral candidate who was the runner-up earlier this year on the CBS reality competition show Survivor stated she left her lab in the engineering building minutes before shots rang out The engineering and thermal science attendee shared candid moments on Survivor as the show s first openly autistic contestant She was locked down in the campus gym following the shooting and shared on social media that the only other member of her lab who was present was safely evacuated Brown senior biochemistry candidate Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside I m just in here shaking he reported watching through the window as officers surrounded his dorm Brown the seventh-oldest higher guidance institution in the U S is one of the nation s the bulk prestigious colleges with roughly undergraduates and more than graduate students