SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said Sunday that law enforcement authorities will shortly release a person of interest detained earlier in the day in connection with the Brown University mass shooting.
Evidence "now points in a different direction," and the search for the gunman who remains at large will continue, he said.
Brett Smiley, mayor of Providence, capital of the state of Rhode Island, said earlier Sunday that authorities had detained a person of interest in the Brown University shooting and that a shelter-in-place order for the university and surrounding areas had been lifted. Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez had previously told media that police were confident the detained individual was the shooter.
A shooting occurred Saturday afternoon in an academic building at Brown University, leaving at least two students dead and nine others injured.
Smiley said Sunday night that although the gunman remains at large, the local community is currently safe.
He emphasized that the shelter-in-place order had been lifted because police had received no credible threats against the Brown University community, the city of Providence, or the broader Rhode Island community since the shooting, and that this assessment has not changed.
"We are not recommending at this time a new shelter-in-place. We do not feel it is necessary," Smiley said.
Smiley added that police will increase their presence in and around Providence and the Brown University campus, and again urged the public to submit any videos that could assist the investigation.
Brown University is one of the United States' eight Ivy League schools, with about 7,300 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate students. Saturday marked the second day of the university's final examinations for the fall semester. ■
