New videos show suspect casing Brown campus and neighborhood before mass shooting

New videos show suspect casing Brown campus and neighborhood before mass shooting

Nancy Lavin, Christopher Shea

Mon, December 15, 2025 at 11:58 PM UTC

7 min read

At a press briefing Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez presents a still image of the Brown mass shooting suspect's face from video captured at Hope and Benevolent streets on Saturday. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)

Details about the man believed to have fatally shot two Brown University students and injured nine more are coming into focus, with new videos and photos released by public officials in a press conference late Monday afternoon.

The series of five short video clips and photographs captured from neighborhood property cameras include blurred images of the person’s face, partially obscured by what looks like a pandemic-era medical mask, as he walked the streets a few blocks east of the building where the shooting took place, about two hours beforehand on Saturday. Instead of black clothing, as previously described, he wears a two-colored jacket that appears dark gray and green.

Report a tip

Anyone with information regarding the Brown University shooting can submit an anonymous tip by phone to the FBI at 1 (800) 225-5324 or the Providence Police Department at (401) 272-3121. Information, including photo and video evidence, can also be submitted online via the FBI website.

As the manhunt continues for the suspect, law enforcement are seeking more tips from the public, with the FBI offering a $50,000 reward for anyone who comes forward with information that leads to the identification, arrest and conviction of the individual responsible. The suspect is believed to be about 5-foot-8 with a stocky build, described as “armed and dangerous” according to the FBI poster.

The evidence comes more than 48 hours after the shooting at Brown’s Barus and Holley engineering building, but wasn’t collected until Monday, Col. Oscar Perez, Providence Police chief, told Rhode Island Current after the press conference.

Perez remained tight-lipped about the progress of the investigation, including personal connections to the victims or the Ivy League campus.

“It’s a great question and something we are all asking ourselves,” Perez said.

A targeted attack

For the first time, Perez publicly confirmed that investigators believe the shooting was a targeted attack against the university.

Indeed, the video clips posted to X show the suspect walking back and forth across the same small section of the East Side neighborhood, pausing multiple times as he appears to take stock of the surroundings. At one point, he changes direction and clasps his hands together behind his back as he gazes up.

Perez also confirmed the weapon used as a 9 millimeter firearm, with multiple rounds fired.

Investigators had previously detained a person of interest found in a Coventry hotel early Sunday, but released him at around 12:30 a.m. Monday, declaring him cleared. But not before his name was publicly circulated via national news reports, prompting a second round of scolding by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha.

“It’s one of the reasons we use words carefully,” Neronha said, explaining the difference between someone detained for questioning, versus held in custody on suspicion of committing a crime.

And as federal prosecutors descended on the Hampton Inn in Coventry early Sunday, other investigators were working on alternative leads and tips, Neronha said.

“These investigations are like threads that you pull on a garment,” Neronha said. “Some of them you pull, and the garment doesn’t open up. Other ones you pull and the garment comes undone.”

These investigations are like threads that you pull on a garment. Some of them you pull, and the garment doesn't open up. Other ones you pull and the garment comes undone.

– Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha

Federal and state investigators were seen combing sidewalks and properties across the East Side Monday afternoon, looking for more evidence of the shooter’s path. The return to the scene of the crime was prompted by additional tips and video and photo evidence, which has increased significantly with footage submitted from business owners and residents that were closed or away for the weekend, Neronha said.

Ted Docks, special agent in charge for the FBI’s Boston field office, which is assisting Providence police and other local and state law enforcement, said the federal agency continues to process evidence from the neighborhood while investigators at its Quantico, Virginia, laboratory work to recreate the scene of the crime, documenting the trajectories of the bullets.

“It’s painstaking work and we are asking the public to be patient as we continue to run down every lead,” Docks said, adding that no amount of information was “too small or irrelevant.”

Perez acknowledged the length of the time that has elapsed since the shooting but reiterated the Providence agency’s dedication and professionalism in finding the suspect.

“There’s no one that wants to put this individual in handcuffs [more] than us,” Perez said.

A city on edge

Mayor Brett Smiley acknowledged the fear and grief that has gripped the capital city, evidenced by local residents, workers and students he had spoken with throughout the weekend and into Monday. Yet the city did not renew the lockdown order that was lifted early Sunday, after the previous person of interest was detained because there have been no new “credible” threats, Smiley said.

“It is going to be hard for my city to feel safe going forward,” Smiley said. “This has shaken us. That will be true tomorrow. I suspect that will be true the day after the general convicts someone. This is a process to restore a sense of safety.”

Providence schools opened as usual Monday and will continue with regular schedules Tuesday, with additional security officers on-hand to help reassure students and parents, Smiley said.

Recalling the 200-plus person crowd that gathered in Lippitt Memorial Park on the Providence-Pawtucket line in sub-freezing temperatures Sunday night to honor the victims, Smiley said “This is a tight-knit community that looks out for each other.”

Some neighborhood residents have lamented the lack of emergency notifications from the city during and after the shooting. But Smiley rebuffed criticisms of the city’s alert system, saying it worked as intended for everyone who signed up, with text messages continuing to be sent out through Monday afternoon.

Smiley’s tone grew sharper when asked about the onus placed on the university. President Donald Trump said earlier today that the tragedy was a “school problem” while defending the FBI’s role in the investigation.

“So far, we’ve done a very good job of doing it,” Trump said of the federal investigation. “With the various times this has happened, they’ve done it in pretty much record time. But you really have to ask the school a little bit more about that, because this was a school problem. They had their own guards, they had their own police, they had their own everything. But you’d have to ask that question, really, to the school, not to the FBI. We came in after the fact, and the FBI will do a good job, but they came in after the fact.”

Smiley’s response: “I do not accept that criticism.”

Unlike prior press conferences, no one representing the university attended Monday afternoon’s event. Smiley said it did not signify their lack of support, instead explaining that because the updates focused on the continued law enforcement efforts to find the suspect, there was no need for the university to have a presence.

However, Smiley said he was unable to directly answer reporters’ questions about why Brown did not activate its sirens when the shooting took place.

Throughout the 30-minute briefing with reporters, public officials repeatedly stressed the need to verify information from official sources, noting the confusion and misinformation that spread in the days since the attack. That included reports of what initially sounded like gunfire reported on Pitman Street in the midst of the university campus Monday morning, but was later confirmed to be a boiler that backfired, according to news reports.

There were no additional updates on the eight victims still in treatment at Rhode Island hospital. One person has already been released. The two students killed were also publicly identified Monday.

Officials do not expect to provide additional public updates Monday.

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