“We have all available resources” to find the suspect, Smiley said.
Seven of the nine wounded were listed as critical, according to Brown University Health.
University officials initially told students and staff that a suspect was in custody, before later saying that was not the case. The mayor said a person initially thought to be involved was detained but was later determined to have no involvement.
Nearly five hours after the shooting, officers in tactical gear led students out of some campus buildings and into a fitness centre.
The shooting occurred near the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the university’s school of engineering and physics department. According to the university’s website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices.
Engineering design exams were under way in the building when the shooting occurred.
A police officer hangs yellow crime tape at the university.Credit: AP
Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm directly across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside and received a text about an active shooter shortly after 4pm.
“I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as a half-dozen armed officers in tactical gear surrounded his dorm. He said he feared for a friend who he thought was inside the engineering building at the time.
Students in a nearby lab hid under desks and turned off the lights after receiving an alert about the shooting, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering who was about a block away from the scene.
Arriving at the White House on Marine One, US President Donald Trump said of the shooting: “What a terrible thing it is.” Credit: Bloomberg
Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee vowed that the shooter would be brought to justice. “We’re going to make sure that we catch the individual that brought so much suffering to so many people.”
The search for the suspect was hampered in part because downtown Providence was crowded with holiday shoppers and thousands of people attending concerts, local media said. Federal law enforcement and police from surrounding cities and towns were assisting in the search, officials said. According to local news reports, venues across the city were bringing in extra security.
US President Donald Trump told reporters that he had been briefed on the shooting and “all we can do right now is pray for the victims”.
Brown is a private institution with roughly 7300 undergraduate students and more than 3000 graduate students.
Ambulances line Hope Street at Brown University in Providence.Credit: AP
Police officers and first responders gather near the campus.Credit: AP
The Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as any incident in which four or more victims have been shot, has counted 389 of them this year in the US, including at least six such shootings at schools. Last year, the US had more than 500 mass shootings, according to the archive.
