Authorities have questioned a person in connection with the tragic shooting at Brown University over the weekend that left two people dead and nine injured.
24-year-old Benjamin Erickson was brought in by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after the mass Ivy League shooting.
According to CNN, the 24-year-old was connected to the U.S. military.
Erickson is from Wisconsin and reportedly drove 17 hours to Rhode Island with a laser-equipped firearm, the Daily Mail reported. He has not been charged with connection to the shooting and has not been named as a suspect.
President Donald Trump reacted to the tragic news of the university shooting during a White House Christmas event.
The president called for the nine injured victims to “get well fast.”
“And to the families of those two that are no longer with us, I pay my deepest regards in respect from the United States of America. Thank you very much, it’s a very important thing to say,” Trump said. “We mean it.”
On Truth Social, the president had indicated that the FBI had a suspect in custody, but later retracted such comments after the agency said an individual was not in custody.
The FBI is referring to Erickson as a “person of interest” in the shooting.
FBI Director Kash Patel released an extensive statement on X, where he laid out that the bureau is working overtime to get to the bottom of the tragic incident.
“We have deployed local and national resources to process and reconstruct the shooting scene – providing HQ and Lab elements on scene. We set up a digital media intake portal to ingest images and video from the public related to this incident,” Patel wrote.
“And the FBI’s victim specialists are fully integrating with our partners to provide resources to victims and survivors of this horrific violence. This FBI will continue an all out 24/7 campaign until justice is fully served. Thanks to the men and women of the FBI and our partners for their continued teamwork. Please continue praying for the victims and their families – as well as all those at Brown University,” he added.
Conservatives on X immediately criticized the FBI over its slow response in identifying a suspect.
“We have a name yet?” Gunther Eagleman asked.
“Why hasn’t the description and name of the suspect been released? Was anything said before the shooting started? What kind of student group was targeted?” Kentucky Girl wrote.
“Why are you still calling the Brown University mass shooter (who has been in custody for over 8 hours) a person of interest?” another individual said.
The U.S. was subjected to multiple attacks over the weekend, including in Syria, where ISIS attacked a convoy and killed two American soldiers. Trump has vowed to retaliate.
