Person of interest detained after deadly shooting in Brown University

• Two students were killed and nine others wounded in a campus shooting.
• Authorities detained a person of interest and lifted the lockdown.
• All victims were Brown University students.
• Final exams were postponed as investigations continue.

A deadly shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island has left two students dead and nine others injured, prompting a campus lockdown and an overnight manhunt that ended with the detention of a person of interest, US authorities said Sunday.

The attack unfolded Saturday inside a campus building where final exams were underway, sending students and staff scrambling for safety and triggering hours of shelter-in-place orders across the Ivy League campus.

During an early Sunday press conference, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley confirmed that a person of interest had been detained and that authorities were no longer searching for additional suspects.

"I want to offer my profound thanks to all the hardworking men and women in law enforcement who worked through the night to be able to get us to this point," Smiley said.

Police Colonel Oscar Perez, speaking alongside the mayor, said investigators were "not at this point" seeking anyone else in connection with the shooting.

- Victims and conditions -

According to city officials, one of the injured students remains in critical condition, seven are in stable condition, and one has been discharged from the hospital.

Brown University President Christina Paxson confirmed that all 11 victims were students in a message sent to the university community.

"Nine members of our community who were transported to local hospitals are all students. And we lost two students to today's devastating gun violence," Paxson said in the letter published on the university’s website.

- Students describe moments of terror -

Witnesses described scenes of panic as gunfire echoed near classrooms.

"It was honestly quite terrifying. The shots seemed like they were coming from where the classrooms are," student Katie Sun told the Brown Daily Herald, saying she fled to her dormitory and left her belongings behind.

Another student, Lydell Dyer, said he was working at the campus gym when the lockdown began.

"We had to go gather everybody, bring them up to the top floor, turn off the lights, and put down the blinds," he told CNN, adding that he hid in darkness with 154 others.

Police later released a brief video clip showing a suspect from behind, walking quickly down an empty street after the shooting inside a first-floor classroom.

"It is shocking and so terribly sad. I know the students here, many of whom were sheltering for many, many hours last night," Smiley said later on CNN. "They're all incredibly shaken up."

- Campus alert and national reaction -

Brown University, which enrolls around 11,000 students, issued an emergency alert at 4:22 pm warning of "an active shooter near Barus and Holley Engineering," where engineering and physics departments are located. Two exams were scheduled at the time.

"Lock doors, silence phones and stay hidden until further notice," the alert said.

Local media reported a heavy law enforcement presence and blood-stained sidewalks near the scene. University officials later announced that Sunday’s final exams had been postponed.

US President Donald Trump was briefed on the incident and described it as a "terrible thing."

"All we can do right now is pray for the victims," he said.

The shooting adds to a growing list of mass shootings across the United States, where gun control efforts remain politically stalled. More than 300 mass shootings have been recorded nationwide so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

"This should not be normal," Smiley said. "This should not be the case that every community needs to prepare for something like this to happen."