Authorities renew search for Brown University shooter after releasing person of interest

law renewed their look mon for the gun who killed deuce Brown University students and wounded nine others, a day after they released a person of interest after determining the evidence pointed "in a different direction."

Officials announced the man's release at a news conference late Sunday, marking a setback in the investigation of Saturday's attack on the Ivy League school's campus and adding to mounting questions around the attack, including a lack of video evidence and whether the focus on the person of interest might have given the killer more time to escape.

Providence residents and students were relieved early Sunday when officials announced they had detained a man at a Rhode Island hotel in connection with the attack and lifted a lockdown. But that relief was short-lived, as Mayor Brett Smiley said hours later that investigators didn't know whether the gunman was still in the area.

"We know that this is likely to cause fresh anxiety," he said.

2 killed in shooting at Brown University

The release of the person of interest left law enforcement without a known suspect, with officials pledging to redouble their efforts by asking neighbourhood residents and businesses for video surveillance that might help identify the attacker.

"We have a murderer out there," Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said.

Authorities said Sunday that one of the reasons they lacked video of the shooter was because Brown's engineering building doesn't have many cameras.

The mayor said there have been no credible threats of further violence since the shooting, and the city's schools were open on Monday.

Officials had taken into custody on Sunday morning a person of interest at a Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry, about 30 kilometers from Providence. Two people familiar with the matter identified that individual as a 24-year-old man from Wisconsin, though authorities never released the individual's name.

"I've been around long enough to know that sometimes you head in one direction and then you have to regroup and go in another, and that's exactly what has happened over the last 24 hours or so," Neronha said.

At least 2 killed, 8 injured in Brown University shooting: Providence, R.I., mayor

He said that "certainly there was some degree of evidence that pointed to the individual" who'd been taken into custody, but "that evidence needed to be corroborated and confirmed."

"And over the last 24 hours leading into just very, very recently, that evidence now points in a different direction," he added.

Authorities believe they are looking for a person shown in a small, short clip of video footage walking away, the mayor said. The person's back is to the camera.

"Right now, we don't have any evidence to suggest that it was more than that individual," Smiley said Monday on ABC's Good Morning America.

Despite an enhanced police presence at Brown, officials are not recommending another shelter-in-place order like the one that followed the Saturday afternoon shooting, when hundreds of officers searched for the attacker and urged students and staff to remain indoors.

The shooting occurred during one of the busiest moments of the academic calendar, as final exams were underway. Brown cancelled all remaining classes, exams, papers and projects for the semester and told students they could leave campus, underscoring the scale of the disruption and the gravity of the attack.

As police scoured the area for the shooter, many students remained barricaded in rooms, while others hid behind furniture and bookshelves. One video showed students in a library shaking and wincing as they heard loud bangs just before police entered the room to clear the building.

University president Christina Paxson teared up while describing her conversations with students both on campus and in the hospital.

"They are amazing and they're supporting each other," she said at a news conference. "There's just a lot of gratitude."

The gunman opened fire inside a classroom in the engineering building, firing more than 40 rounds from a 9-mm handgun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

One student of the nine wounded students had been released from the hospital, said Paxson. Seven others were in critical but stable condition, and one was in critical condition.

Durham Academy, a private K-12 school in Durham, N.C., confirmed that a recent graduate, Kendall Turner, was critically wounded. The school said her parents were with her.

"Our school community is rallying around Kendall, her classmates and her loved ones, and we will continue to offer our full support in the days ahead," the school said.

On Sunday evening, city leaders, residents and others gathered at a park to honour the victims. The event originally was scheduled as a Christmas tree and Hanukkah menorah lighting.

"For those who know at least a bit of the Hanukkah story, it is quite clear that if we can come together as a community to shine a little bit of light tonight, there's nothing better that we can be doing," Smiley said at a news conference earlier in the day.

The mayor said he visited some wounded students and was inspired by their courage, hope and gratitude. One told him that active shooting drills done in high school proved helpful.

"The resilience that these survivors showed and shared with me, is frankly pretty overwhelming," he said.

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