Brown University Shooting Response Sparks Questions

Clear Facts

• A gunman opened fire in a Brown University engineering classroom during final exams Saturday, resulting in two deaths and nine injuries.
• Authorities arrested a suspect the next morning in connection with the shooting.
• During a press conference, Brown President Christina Paxson could not confirm basic details about the classroom or the victims.

The shooting occurred around 4:00 p.m. at Brown University in Providence while final exams were underway. Two people were killed and nine were injured before police arrested a suspect by the next morning.

During a Saturday night press conference, reporter Dan Jaehnig questioned Brown President Christina Paxson about her lack of information regarding the classroom activity during the incident.

“President, with all due respect, six hours after the shooting and you said you don’t know what was going on in that classroom? How does that happen?”

Paxson responded, “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

Jaehnig pressed further, “Six hours later — and you’re the president — and you don’t know?”

“I do not know,” Paxson replied.

Jaehnig remarked, “Well, that’s kind of concerning.”

Earlier, Paxson could not confirm whether the victims were members of the women’s lacrosse team.

When asked how she was handling the situation, Paxson said, “Uh, yeah. It’s— it’s hard to process. I was on a plane to D.C. when it happened and flew right back and I’m catching up right now.”

Paxson has led Brown University since 2012 and is the longest-serving current president among the Ivy League colleges.

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