PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — As the pursuit of the suspect involved in the Brown University shooting stretched into its fifth day on Wednesday, officials urged the public to examine any security or cellphone footage from the previous week. They hope these recordings might offer clues to the identity of the individual, suspecting that the perpetrator may have scoped out the location beforehand.

This plea followed the release of multiple videos on Tuesday, capturing scenes from just before and after the attack on Saturday. The footage features the individual in question moving through streets near the campus, either masked or with their face turned away from the camera.

“I believe this is likely the most intensive investigation currently underway in the country,” stated Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez during a Wednesday press briefing. He highlighted that investigators have amassed substantial evidence from the crime scene and that student descriptions of the shooter align with the individual depicted in the videos under scrutiny.

Despite Brown University’s deployment of 1,200 surveillance cameras, the assault—which resulted in the death of two students and injured nine others—occurred in a first-floor classroom of an older section of the engineering building. This area reportedly has “fewer, if any,” surveillance cameras, according to Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha. It is believed that the assailant entered and exited through a door facing a residential street adjacent to the campus, which might explain the absence of video footage capturing the suspect.

The ongoing frustration over the inadequate campus surveillance footage of the shooter prompted former President Donald Trump to criticize the university’s preparedness. On Wednesday, he took to Truth Social, writing: “Why did Brown University have so few Security Cameras? There can be no excuse for that. In the modern age, it just doesn’t get worse!!!”

Where the investigation stands

Investigators have described the person they’re seeking as about 5 feet, 8 inches (173 centimeters) tall and stocky, but they’ve given no indication that they are close to zeroing in on their identity.

The attacker’s motives also remain a mystery, though Perez said investigators haven’t found any evidence to suggest that it was targeting a specific person.

Authorities have been canvassing the surrounding neighborhoods and have received hundreds of tips.

“There’s no discouragement among people who understand that not every case can be solved quickly,” the attorney general said Wednesday.

Asked why authorities haven’t released all of the footage they have from day of the attack — including video of students fleeing the section of the building where more cameras were installed — Neronha said it wouldn’t help the investigation.

“It does not advance our investigation to have reams of data out there that doesn’t help identify the shooter,” he said.

Perez declined to say how many witnesses police had spoken to or how many people were in the classroom when the attack happened. But he said his department is being dogged and is hoping more students with information will come forward.

“We’re all over the place. If a tip tells us we need to go down to Connecticut, we’re going down to Connecticut. If a tip comes in and tells us that we got to go to Boston, we’re going to Boston,” the chief said.

But the timing of the attack, coming just before the winter break, could complicate the investigation, as remaining classes and exams were canceled after the shooting and many students have already gone home.

The investigation also comes as Boston-area police search for the person who killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor earlier this week. That attack happened in the professor’s home, and the FBI said it had no reason to think the two attacks were linked.

Separately, Providence police on Wednesday released a new photo of a separate individual who they said was in “proximity of the person of interest” and asked the public to help identify that person so they could speak with them. The person in the new photo is wearing dark pants and a blue jacket, and carrying a light tan bag.

Campus security comes under scrutiny

The attack and shooter’s escape have raised questions about campus security.

Paxson said Brown has two security systems. One, which is activated in times of emergency, sent out text messages, phone calls and emails that reached 20,000 people. The other features three sirens across the campus and was not activated Saturday, a decision Paxson defended because doing so would have caused people to rush into buildings, including the one where the shooting was happening.

“So that is not a system we would ever use in the case of an active shooter,” she said.

Brown’s website says the sirens can be used when there is an active shooter, but Paxson said it “depends on the circumstances” and the location of the shooter.

A city on edge

With the shooter still at-large, Providence remained tense Wednesday as additional police were stationed at city schools to reassure worried parents that their kids would be safe. Some schools canceled afterschool activities and field trips.

Prior to the shooting, nearly 1,600 Providence residents were registered to receive texts through a city text alert service. According to the city, 760 new accounts have been created since Sunday, bringing the total number of people registered to receive texts to more than 2,300 as of late Tuesday.

Brown also cautioned people to refrain from accusing people online of having any link to the attack, after it said such speculation led to a student being doxed — their identifying information was posted.

“Accusations, speculation and conspiracies we’re seeing on social media and in some news reports are irresponsible, harmful, and in some cases dangerous for the safety of individuals in our community,” the school said in a statement.

And the police chief on Wednesday asked the public to stop circulating AI-generated images being shared on social media.

Honoring the victims

About 200 people gathered at a campus church service Tuesday to honor the victims, including Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, the two students who died.

Cook was a 19-year-old sophomore from Alabama who was very involved in her church and served as vice president of the Brown College Republicans.

Umurzokov was an 18-year-old freshman from Virginia whose family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan and who hoped to go to medical school one day.

Mayor Brett Smiley said Wednesday that a third wounded student had been discharged, leaving five still hospitalized in stable condition and one in critical condition.

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Contributing were Associated Press journalists Jennifer McDermott, Matt O’Brien and Robert F. Bukaty in Providence; Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu.