Brown University issued an open letter from its president mourning the loss of two undergraduate students killed in Saturday’s mass shooting at the school.
“These were two young people whose amazing promise was extinguished too soon,” Christina Paxson said, confirming their identities as Ella Cook, a sophomore, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, a freshman in his first semester of college.
“Before releasing their names, it was important that we give their families some space to grieve,” Paxson said on Tuesday, “but now it is important that we never forget them.”
Cook came from Mountain Brook, Alabama, the letter said, where she distinguished herself as an accomplished competitive pianist and a leader in her church community. Paxson said she joined Brown’s Alpha Chi Omega sorority and served as vice president of the university’s Republican Club. Cook was interested in French and Francophone studies.
“As I learn more about the vitality she radiated, I wish so much that I had the opportunity to know her,” Paxson said.
“I feel the same about Mukhammad,” her letter continued, “who was known for being driven, conscientious and disciplined, particularly as he pursued his deep ambition to make a positive impact in the world by becoming a neurosurgeon.”
Umurzokov was a U.S. dual citizen from Uzbekistan who graduated from Midlothian High School in Virginia, Paxson said. He planned to concentrate in biochemistry and molecular biology, according to the letter.
Henry Buss, a first-year student from Plymouth, Mich., said he lived on the same floor as Umurzokov in the Keeney Quad. Buss said they had a friendship based on spontaneity — they’d run into each other in the hall and Umurzokov would convince him to take a break from school work. Buss said they’d go on adventures together, like trying to find a Halloween costume for Umurzokov, which they called “side quests.”
“He was such a big presence on campus that I met a significant amount of people that I know right now through him,” Buss said in an interview on Tuesday. “And just because he was just so kind and so outgoing that literally everybody knew him and everybody loved him. That was just how he was.”
The university is still considering plans for how to memorialize the students during the spring semester, Paxson said. In the meantime, most classes, exams, and final papers have been canceled.
Paxson’s statement extended condolences to Cook’s parents, Anna and Richard, and her siblings, Richard and Mary; as well as Mukhammad’s parents, Fazliddin and Gulnoza, and his sisters, Rukhsora and Samara.
Nine other students were injured during Saturday’s shooting, but the university said it will not release their names out of concern for the students’ privacy. The statement said most of them remain in the hospital in stable condition.
The manhunt for the gunman continued on Tuesday, a day after Providence police released new images of the person they believe is responsible for Saturday’s mass shooting.
This story has been updated with comments from Henry Buss.
