Providence police released new images on Monday of the person they believe is the gunman responsible for Saturday’s mass shooting at Brown University.
“The sooner we can identify that person, the sooner we can blow this case wide open,” said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha.
The new pictures were collected from doorbell camera footage on the streets around Barus &Holley Hall on College Hill. Unlike the previous image, which showed a figure in dark clothes walking away from the camera, the new pictures give a frontal view of the subject.
He wears a mask, but you can see his eyes and his build. The suspect is stocky. He also appears to be middle-aged.
“The FBI is now offering the reward of $50,000 for information that can lead to the identification, the arrest and the conviction of the person responsible, whom we consider armed and dangerous” said Ted E. Docks, the Special Agent in Charge of the bureau’s Boston field office.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley tried to balance the menace implicit in that warning with reassurance that the streets of providence are safe.
“My sense of the community here is that this is starting to get very real and very personal,” Smiley said.
He urged local parents who have kept their children home from school to send them back. In return, he promised an increased police presence on city streets.
“You know we’re all 2 degrees of separation from one another, which is hard,” Smiley said. “But we’re here for one another. The upside is this is a tight-knit community where people look out for each other.”
Providence police have plenty of help, including support from DHS, ATF, the IRS, and the U.S. Marshals Service
“This is a very active investigation. It’s all hands on deck,” said Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence chief of police.
Law enforcement officials fanned out in Wayland Square and other nearby areas Monday and could be observed scouring the grounds near Barus & Holley Hall searching for clues in the snow.
Although authorities appear to be no closer to identifying the suspect, the identities of some of the victims are beginning to emerge.
Neither Brown University nor local law enforcement will confirm the names, but communities of the 2 students killed have gone public themselves.
In Birmingham, Alabama, the rector of the Cathedral Church of the Advent eulogized 19-year-old sophomore Ella Cook from the altar on Sunday.
“She was an incredible, grounded faithful bright light,” he said, choking up as he expressed condolences to her family.
Cook was reportedly a leader of the Brown college Republican Club and active in the university’s Catholic community as well.
The other victim was 18-year-old freshman Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, according to the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan, where he was born. His family had since immigrated to Virginia.
According to a Go Fund Me page set up by his sisters, Umurzokov suffered from a childhood condition that required brain surgery at age 7. The success of that operation inspired him to help others.
“He was incredibly kind, funny, and smart,” the site says, quoting his sister Samira Umurzokova. “He had big dreams of becoming a neurosurgeon and helping people. He continues to be my family’s biggest role model in all aspects.”
A total of nine people were also injured in the shooting and rushed to Rhode Island Hospital. As of Monday afternoon, one of them was still listed in critical condition. Six were “critical but stable.” One has been upgraded to stable. Another treated and released.
