Police chief still can’t answer basic question about Brown University shooting

By Jason Cohen

Col. Oscar Perez, Providence police chief, said on Wednesday that he still did not know the number of students who were in the classroom during a Saturday shooting at Brown University.

A gunman opened fire in an engineering building classroom on Brown’s Providence campus during final exams, killing two and wounding nine. During a press conference, a reporter noted five days had passed since the shooting and asked Perez if he could answer how many students were there during the incident, but he was unable to.

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“That’s all part of the interviews. And actually we’re cooperating with Brown to get the roster. That was a study hall, so we don’t have the number,” Perez said. “We’re still getting information as far as who was there. I know Brown sent out an email to the students to notify us if they were present, and we’re still getting that. So I can’t give you an exact account now.”

The shooting killed Ella Cook, a sophomore student and vice president of the Brown College Republicans, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an Uzbek national.

Brown University instructor Joseph Oduro told The New York Times that he was wrapping up his economics study session when the shooting broke out, leading him and roughly 20 other students to hide behind a desk. Oduro said there were around 60 students at the study session.

Authorities moved to release a person of interest they arrested on Sunday after the FBI pursued a local police lead to arrest the initial person of interest in Coventry, FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X earlier that day.

Moreover, NBC 10 WJAR’s Dan Jaehnig confronted Brown University’s president Christina Paxson during a Saturday press conference for saying she did not know what was occurring in the classroom where the shooting took place.

“President, with all due respect, six hours after the shooting and you said you don’t know what was going on in that classroom?” Jaehnig asked. “How does that happen?”

“Were they taking an exam? Were they meeting for a club?” the reporter pressed.

When Paxson repeatedly said she was uncertain, Jaehnig replied it was “kind of concerning” that she lacked the information.

The Providence Police Department did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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