๐SHOCKING U-TURN: Police FREE the ONLY suspect in Ivy League Brown University massacre as desperate hunt for gunman who slaughtered two and wounded nine turns into total farce
Published: 16 December 2025 07:10 GMT+7 | Updated: 16 December 2025 12:45 GMT+7
In a jaw-dropping twist that has left an entire American campus reeling in fear, police have sensationally released the only person they had in custody over the horrific mass shooting at prestigious Brown University โ admitting they now have zero suspects in the bloodbath that left two dead and nine fighting for their lives.
The dramatic U-turn came just 12 hours after officers swooped on a hotel room in nearby Coventry, Rhode Island, and dragged away a man they described as a ‘person of interest’ in the chilling attack.
But last night, in a bombshell press conference that sparked fresh panic across the Ivy League school, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha admitted: ‘We are pursuing a different investigative path. There is no longer any basis to believe this individual was involved.’
The killer is STILL out there.
Armed police swarm the Brown University campus in Providence, Rhode Island, after the deadly shooting spree out during finals week
The massacre unfolded in the most terrifying way imaginable on Tuesday afternoon at the university’s engineering building โ right in the middle of frantic end-of-semester exams.
Students described hearing the crack of gunfire echo through the halls as a lone gunman burst into a lecture theatre and opened fire without warning.
One 18-year-old freshman โ a heroic kid who was shielding a terrified classmate โ was shot in the leg as he tried to drag his friend to safety behind a desk.
He is now recovering in hospital alongside the other victims, one of whom remains in a critical but stable condition.
Another seven are said to be stable, while one has already been discharged.
But the horror doesn’t end there.
Hundreds of students were trapped for hours as police locked down the entire 150-acre campus in Providence, Rhode Island, with armoured vehicles, SWAT teams and helicopters circling overhead.
Parents across America frantically called and texted their children, begging for any sign they were alive.
One mother told how her daughter sent a single heart-wrenching message: ‘Mom, there’s a shooter. I love you.’
It was every parent’s worst nightmare.
The gunman โ still unidentified โ fled the scene and vanished into the bustling streets of the college town, leaving investigators scrambling.
Within hours, police had zeroed in on a man holed up in a budget hotel 17 miles away in Coventry.
He was arrested after what sources described as a ‘promising lead’.
For a brief, tense period, the community dared to hope justice was close.
But by late Tuesday night, that hope was cruelly snatched away.
‘We followed every protocol,’ a clearly frustrated Neronha told reporters. ‘But new information has come to light.’
He refused to elaborate, but sources close to the investigation say the man was cleared after phone records and CCTV placed him nowhere near the campus at the time of the shooting.
Now, with the suspect walking free, cops are back to square one.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley didn’t sugar-coat the devastating reality: ‘This development may cause additional anxiety in our community. We understand that.’
Understatement of the year.
Emergency services flood the streets around Brown University as the active shooter situation unfolds
FBI Director Kash Patel has now thrown the full weight of the bureau behind the manhunt, deploying a specialist team to trawl through mobile phone data and location tracking.
‘We are using every tool at our disposal,’ Patel said in a statement.
But for the shell-shocked students and staff of Brown University, words offer little comfort.
The entire spring semester has been cancelled. Exams, assignments, everything โ wiped out in a single afternoon of terror.
University President Christina Paxson lifted the ‘shelter in place’ order at 5.42am yesterday, but large parts of the campus remain off-limits as forensic teams scour for clues.
In emotional scenes, hundreds gathered for candlelight vigils as night fell, clutching flickering flames and photos of the victims whose names have not yet been released.
One tearful student, who asked not to be named, said: ‘We came here to study, to build our futures. Now we’re just trying to survive.’
Heartbreaking scenes at a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Brown University shooting, as the community mourns two dead and nine injured
This isn’t just another campus shooting โ it’s the latest grim chapter in America’s endless gun nightmare.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, the Brown atrocity pushes the total number of mass shootings in the US this year alone to a staggering 389.
That’s more than one a day.
And each one follows the same sickening pattern: gunfire, panic, political platitudes, then nothing.
President Donald Trump was quick to offer his condolences, posting on Truth Social: ‘Our hearts break for the families of the victims at Brown University. We pray for the injured and for the brave first responders.’
But as always, the real debate is raging behind the scenes.
Democrats are already calling for tougher gun laws, pointing to the AR-15 style weapon believed to have been used.
Republicans, meanwhile, insist the focus should be on mental health and school security.
One thing is certain: the families of the dead and injured don’t care about politics right now.
They just want answers.
Who did this? And why?
The gunman remains at large, and with every passing hour, the fear grows that he could strike again.
Police have released grainy CCTV images of a hooded figure fleeing the engineering building, but the quality is poor.
They are now pleading with the public for any information โ no matter how small.
Meanwhile, the man who spent a night in custody before being freed has reportedly returned home, his life turned upside down by a case of mistaken identity.
His lawyer described the ordeal as ‘traumatic’ and demanded an apology from authorities.
But for the victims’ families, apologies mean nothing.
One father, whose son is among the injured, told reporters outside the hospital: ‘They let him go? After all this? My boy is lying in there with a bullet in his body, and they don’t even have a suspect?’
His voice cracked with emotion.
‘This country is broken.’
As the investigation drags on, Brown University โ one of America’s most elite institutions, alma mater to senators, CEOs and Nobel laureates โ has been transformed into a crime scene.
Security has been ramped up to unprecedented levels, with metal detectors at every entrance and armed guards patrolling the quads.
But for many students, it’s too little, too late.
‘I don’t feel safe anymore,’ said one sophomore who witnessed the chaos from a nearby dorm. ‘Every noise makes me jump. Every backpack could be hiding a weapon.’
The psychological scars will last a lifetime.
And as America once again mourns its young, the same tired arguments rage on.
How many more campuses must bleed before something changes?
How many more vigils, how many more empty desks in lecture halls?
The release of the suspect has only deepened the sense of helplessness.
Cops admit they are now relying on old-fashioned legwork โ poring over thousands of hours of campus CCTV, interviewing hundreds of witnesses, and hoping for a breakthrough.
But in the age of smart phones and social media, the silence from the killer is deafening.
No manifesto. No social media rant. Nothing.
Just two bodies in the morgue and nine families praying for miracles.
As the clock ticks past midnight in Providence, the streets around Brown are eerily quiet.
But the fear is palpable.
Parents are pulling their kids out of classes.
Alumni are flooding donation pages for victim support.
And somewhere out there, a cold-blooded killer is walking free.
The question on everyone’s lips tonight is simple, and terrifying:
When will this nightmare end?
Additional reporting by Daily Mail correspondents in Providence and Washington DC
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Heavily armed officers stand guard as the search for the Brown University gunman continues into the night