Brett Smiley

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Managing public-safety posture and public anxiety as the manhunt stretches into a second week and the investigation potentially broadens beyond Rhode Island

Brown's Dec. 13 shooting evolved from a campus lockdown into an extended manhunt. Gunfire killed two students—Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov—and wounded nine others; the initially detained suspect was released, and investigators have used residential and vehicle-camera footage to track the shooter's movements.

Updated May 15