‘We have a murderer out there, frankly’: Search for Brown gunman continues after officials release person of interest – Boston News, Weather, Sports

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WHDH) – In a surprising announcement late Sunday night, investigators said they were releasing the person of interest who had been detained in connection with Saturday’s deadly shooting at Brown University in Providence.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said the evidence no longer points towards that individual as a person of interest.

“Sometimes you head in one direction and then you have to regroup and go in another and that is exactly what has happened in the last 24 hours or so,” Neronha said. “Certainly there was some degree of evidence that pointed to this individual but that evidence needed to be corroborated and confirmed and over the last 24 hours leading up to just very, very, recently that evidence now points in a different direction.”

The man was detained by police Sunday at a hotel in Coventry, one day after a gunman opened fire at Brown, killing two students and injuring nine others.

A law enforcement official told the Associated press that the gunman shot 40 9mm rounds into a classroom.

Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed said two handguns have been recovered.

The teaching assistant who was leading the student session in that classroom, at the Barus and Holley Engineering Building, recounted the moment the gunman came into the room screaming:

“He came through the back so we pretty much directly made eye contact and then as soon as that happened I looked at my students and told them to come to the front and then I just ducked,” Joseph Oduro said.

Officials said they will be ramping up security measures.

Authorities continue to search for the person in video released Saturday, stressing that details about the investigation are being kept secret since the gunman remains at large.

“There’s a ton of things that happen next, I don’t want to get into them all because obviously we have a murderer out there, frankly, and so we don’t want to give away the game plan,” Neronha said. “I know the team’s going to work hard and we’re going to solve this.”

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