In a bizarre development, Benjamin Erickson, the “person of interest” in the Brown University mass shooting, has been released
A person of interest related to the Brown University mass shooting was being released from custody, officials said during a late night press conference on Dec. 14, though no new security alert or lockdown is in place.
“We want to inform the community that that individual will shortly be released from Providence Police,” Mayor Brett Smiley said in a surprise briefing that took place at 11 p.m.
“We have a murderer out there, frankly,” said Attorney General Peter Neronha, adding that law enforcement was not holding back video, there just wasn’t much available.
Erickson reportedly drove from Wisconsin to Providence, and was arrested in a Hampton Inn twenty miles from Providence with a couple of firearms in his hotel room. Reportedly he was tracked using cell phone data. How much of that was true is unknown at this point.
As of now, Erickson appears not to be the right guy after all. Authorities are looking for a second “person of interest,” whom they have on video a couple of miles from the scene of the shooting. The video, viewable at the link above, is completely unrevealing.
It seems remarkable that someone can enter a building on a college campus, fire off forty or more rounds (as reported), kill and injure multiple people, and simply walk away without being apprehended or challenged.
