PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The shooting at Brown University on Saturday happened inside an engineering building at the eastern edge of campus, where the Ivy League school blends into a residential neighborhood.
Hours before the attack, security camera footage captured a person of interest police say may have been “casing” a quiet and affluent corner of College Hill, just out of reach of the busier streets that cross through the urban campus in Providence, Rhode Island.
Here is a timeline of video evidence that police and the FBI have disclosed so far:
2 p.m. to 2:08 p.m.: The earliest of videos disclosed by police show a person of interest in dark clothing and a mask sauntering along a Manning Street sidewalk before turning onto Cooke Street and later on George Street, passing stately mansions dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The person of interest will spend most of the next hour just about a block away from the much busier Hope Street, an unofficial eastern border of Brown’s campus and one of the better-known streets that traverses Providence’s East Side.
2:08 to 2:13 p.m. The same person walks on Benevolent Street but pauses and turns around in front of the Aldrich House, home to the Rhode Island Historical Society, which has cameras near its main entrance and side door. A spokesperson for the society later declined to comment except to say the organization is cooperating with investigators. The person is then seen along the side entrance of the Aldrich House, where there is a small outbuilding, and then behind its gated lawn and a row of trees on George Street.
2:16 to 2:18 p.m.: More unusual activity happens around the Aldrich House. Notes on a video shared by the FBI on social media and later deleted say the person “abruptly turns west down George. Second individual follows.” That second person can be seen on Cooke Street, carrying a small light-colored bag. Shortly after turning the corner, one of the two people appears to run away. Police on Wednesday shared new images of people with light-colored bags they want to speak with because of their proximity to the person of interest. The main subject of the investigation later makes a short appearance on Hope Street, walking on a sidewalk alongside the Brown campus.
2:20 p.m., In another video taken from the historical society building, the person is shown running east on Benevolent Street, away from the campus toward Cooke Street. The running clip is followed by a 30-minute gap, at least in footage publicly disclosed.
2:51-2:53 p.m. Video shows the person on George, Cooke and Manning streets again, covering the same ground walked earlier. Doorbell camera footage then shows the person walking west on Manning Street toward the university campus with a satchel visible over their shoulder.
2:53 p.m.: Car camera footage taken from a Nissan Rogue shows the person turning north onto Hope Street from Manning Street and toward a parking lot near Brown’s Barus and Holley engineering building. It’s the last known sighting for more than an hour. Authorities have said that one reason they lacked video of the shooter was because Brown’s older engineering building doesn’t have many cameras.
4:03 p.m.: Gunfire erupts inside a classroom of the Barus and Holley building where many students had gathered for a study session to prepare for a final economics exam. Two students were killed and nine were wounded.
4:06 p.m.: Shortly after the shooting, the person appears to walk calmly back through the same Brown parking lot toward Hope Street. As the person of interest crosses Hope Street, a police car with emergency lights turns to park nearby. The officer exits the vehicle and quickly crosses toward the engineering building. The person of interest turns the corner onto Waterman Street and continues walking east along Waterman (not Hope Street, as the FBI stated) at a leisurely pace.
4:15 p.m.: The sun sets on Providence during a week with the year’s earliest sunsets, pitching the city into darkness just as an intensive search begins.
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Lau reported from Claymont, Delaware.
