Nine weeks after the deadly campus shooting at Brown, the campus is still in mourning.
Brown University president Christina Paxson paid tribute Saturday to the two students killed when a gunman opened fire in the university’s engineering building Dec. 13.
“Ella and Mukhammad must be remembered,” she said, at the packed memorial service. “They were everything we hope to see in our students: whip-smart, intellectually curious, kind, and generous, each in their own distinct ways.”
Freshman Vanessa Finder said of Umurzokov, “He helped me fall in love with Brown.”
She lived next door to the 18-year-old first-year student in the Brown dorms. The two shared an interest in neuroscience. Finder described him as affable, intelligent, and incredibly funny.
“I don’t think anyone has made me laugh as hard as he did,” she said.
She also described how supportive he was as a friend.
“Whenever I needed to go somewhere, he would always say yes and accompany me, just so I wouldn’t have to be alone,” she said, describing him as “one of the most loyal people I have ever met.”
Sophomore Elina Coutlakis-Hixson, who was close friends with Cook, appeared to struggle to hold back tears during her eulogy.
“Ella would wear bright pink sweaters and big gold hoop earrings and floor length green coats on gloomy days,” she remembered wistfully.
“She could do math that looked like hieroglyphics and spoke French with graceful precision and finesse,” Coutlakis-Hixson said.
Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore, had just been elected president of the college Republican club and was looking forward to a semester abroad in France.
At the close of the service, Brown’s vice president of community engagement Mary Jo Callan invited the congregation to light candles in honor of Cook and Umurzokov.
“In lighting our candles, we honor their enduring presence in each of us,” Callan said.
