The suspect in the Brown University shooting over the weekend remained at large on Tuesday evening, but Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told Ocean State Media that investigators are making progress.
Neronha said he’s confident that the person identified in surveillance video police have released over the past few days is the suspect:
“Our view is that there’s a very strong likelihood that he is,” Neronha said. “That said, I don’t want to over-promise and under-deliver.”
Neronha also said that investigators have yet to locate the gun that was used in the shooting. The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.
As the search continues for the suspect, Neronha spoke with Ocean State Media political reporter Ian Donnis about the ongoing investigation.
Interview highlights
On whether identifying, and then releasing, a person of interest set the investigation back
Attorney General Peter Neronha: I would say no, Ian. Did it shake public confidence in the investigation? If it did, I understand why.
I will say this: it didn’t change the investigation. You’ve got to run every lead to ground. And that was a good lead, developed by the FBI. But while the FBI was working that lead, Providence (Police), the State Police, the other federal law enforcement agencies were in Providence working other leads.
So certainly time was spent running that lead to ground. And once we identified that person in Coventry, (R.I.) there was evidence secured in the hotel room that we later got a search warrant to examine. At first instance it made us more confident that we were talking to a person of significant interest. But for those of us experienced in law enforcement, we knew that we needed to wait for the forensic testing to come back before we over-promised.
On why mass shootings have become more common in America, even as violent crime has generally trended down over recent decades
Neronha: I think that Providence, for example, has had a very safe year before this incident. I mean, the number of homicides – I think it was less than 5, I believe it was 2. And, and then this happens, right? So had this not happened, not only would 2 wonderful people be alive, but 9 others would not be wounded and a campus and city traumatized.
I think it’s a combination of people that are aggrieved, angry – call it mental health issues, if you like, but there are plenty of angry people that don’t shoot things up, they just vent in other ways.
But it’s a combination of weapons, easy weapons availability, and anger taken to the extreme. And I just don’t know how we get a handle on that. I wish I had better answers. I mean, we have done things in Rhode Island around gun safety that I think make us safer, but to make us unequivocally safe, I don’t know how we get there.
On a message to parents who might be concerned about sending their children to school or college in the wake of this mass shooting
Neronha: As a parent, you just want your kid home as soon as possible. You know, you don’t care about filing exams, you don’t care about what you paid for tuition in that semester. You just want ‘em home. And so, I understand why Brown canceled classes and as many kids as (possible) could go home, and home very quickly.
I think more broadly, those students are going to have to come back to campus in January. They will come back to campus – I’m sure by then there will be many steps taken by Brown and the city of Providence, the police department, to ensure that they feel safer than they do today. And I’m confident that they will be safe.
I mean, we live in a world today where – our time on the planet is driven in part by natural forces and luck, and luck in the manner of you’re in the wrong place at the right time…I remember watching my youngest when he was in middle school walk up the steps (of his school). I have a vivid memory of that moment. He got out of the car and he is walking up the steps, the same steps I walked up as a child in Jamestown, and thinking, “There’s a lot of hours and a lot of steps before he comes home that night. How safe will he be in the school? How safe will he be getting on the school bus? How safe will he be on the ride on the bus? How safe will he be walking just down the small street that we live on?”
You have to put your faith in either good luck or whatever God you pray to, and hope that your family and friends stay safe. But we know that we live in a world – as a country, given the level of gun violence that happens – that we are only a bullet away from the worst possible outcome. And it’s really a sobering thing to think about. Sometimes you just have to push that out of your mind and just keep going.
