Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a suspect in the Brown University shooting that resulted in the deaths of two students and nine others being wounded.
Two sources within law enforcement told CBS News on Thursday afternoon that a suspect has been identified by authorities, a warrant for their arrest has been issued, and a search is underway.
Additionally, authorities are looking into a possible link between the mass shooting last Saturday at Brown and the murder of Nuno Loureiro, who taught plasma physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Loureiro, who was also the head of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, was shot while at home in Brookline, Massachusetts, and died at a local hospital the following day.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person responsible for the Brown shooting, reported CBS News.
An unknown gunman entered the Barus & Holley building at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, at around 4 p.m. Saturday, and began shooting at students. Two students — Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov — were killed, while nine others were wounded.
A person of interest was initially interviewed by police shortly after the shooting; however, the individual was later released. Brown canceled all remaining exams and classes for the semester.
Authorities released video clips and still images of an unknown person of interest on Monday, with the figure wearing a facemask, jacket and walking along a nearby neighborhood sidewalk.
The Providence Police Department distributed on Wednesday an enhanced image of an unknown individual who could provide more information about a person of interest in the investigation.
“Investigators are asking for the public’s help in identifying and speaking to the individual shown in this photo who was in proximity of the person of interest,” stated PPD. “Anyone with information is urged to contact the tip line at 401-272-3121.”
University officials have been criticized by some for their apparent lack of good footage of the shooter, even though the campus has approximately 1,200 security cameras.
At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Brown Provost Francis Doyle III was asked by a reporter “how a school with a $9 billion endowment does not have cameras on one of the older buildings at the edge of the campus where this happened?”
Doyle replied that “we don’t publish the locations of cameras” for security reasons and that the building in question did have cameras and that all footage has been handed over to authorities.
The reporter followed up, citing how the state attorney general had said at an earlier press conference that the scene of the crime was an “old building, no cameras, attached to a new building with cameras.”
“I believe he said that there were two different phases of the building that might have two different levels of technology. Again, all video imagery has been turned over to law enforcement,” Doyle said in response.
