The inquiry into the mass shooting at Brown University has taken a tumultuous turn, as authorities have resumed a manhunt after the FBI released a previously detained person of interest.

A little over a day following the tragic incident, which resulted in two fatalities and left nine others injured, officials are attempting to calm a shaken community in Rhode Island. They acknowledged that the evidence has led them to reconsider their initial conclusions.

The unfolding events highlight a series of blunders involving the FBI, placing their director, Kash Patel, under intense scrutiny. Patel had prematurely declared the capture of a suspect connected to Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

This recent misstep was mirrored in Patel’s social media post, where he claimed the apprehension of Benjamin Erickson, a person of interest. This has reignited discussions on whether rapid announcements during critical investigations undermine public trust in the FBI or if they ensure necessary transparency.

In earlier developments, authorities identified 19-year-old Ella Cook as one of the two individuals who lost their lives in the shooting that occurred on the prestigious Ivy League campus on Saturday afternoon.

Erickson, a 24-year-old Army sniper originally from Wisconsin, had been detained for questioning over the attacks. But within hours of his name leaking to the public, authorities disclosed at a hastily convened 11pm press conference that he would be freed. 

The release of the lone person of interest leaves law enforcement without a known suspect, with officials pledging to redouble efforts in the investigation by canvassing for video surveillance that could help identify the gunman.

‘We have a murderer out there,’ Attorney General Peter Neronha said.

Police are still hunting for the man pictured in this footage, they said on Sunday 

Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore at Brown University and a vice president of the school’s Republican club, has been identified as one of the two students killed in Saturday’s shooting

‘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.’

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. 

‘Over the last 24 hours leading into just very, very recently, that evidence now points in a different direction.’

Footage showing a man wearing all black leaving the scene is still being relied on, officials said. They are urging anyone with information relating to the identification of the man in that video to come forward, and said the unknown person remains a person of interest. 

FBI officials took Erickson into custody at a Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island on Saturday morning.

Hours later, FBI Director Patel boasted of his team’s efforts hours later on X, writing that the bureau’s Boston headquarters ‘established a command post to intake, develop and analyze leads, and run them to ground.

‘We activated the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team, to provide critical geolocation capabilities. As a result, early this morning, FBI Boston’s Safe Streets Task Force, with assistance from the @USMarshalsHQ & the @Coventry_RI_PD, detained a person of interest in a hotel room in Coventry, RI.’

‘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.

‘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.’

Patel is facing mounting backlash for once again sharing details of an investigation to social media before authorities were ready to press charges.

Angry critics on X described Patel as ‘completely incompetent’ and ‘a joke’.

A heavy law enforcement response descended on the campus, and the Trump administration said FBI and ATF agents were on the scene

The arrest comes after Rhode Island authorities launched an urgent manhunt for a male suspect ‘wearing all black’ as he turned the corner on Waterman Street. (Pictured: Police on campus Sunday morning) 

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley acknowledged that ‘the news is likely to cause fresh anxiety for our community.’

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 shooter and urged students and staff to shelter in place. 

The lockdown, which stretched into the night, was lifted early Sunday, but authorities had not yet released information about a potential motive.

Brown University released a statement after the press conference acknowledging the stress the new details may cause students and their families.

‘We know that this update may prompt numerous questions,’ the message said. 

‘This remains an active police investigation, and the university must defer to the Providence Police Department to release information as they deem appropriate.’ 

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

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

People participate in a candlelight vigil the following day of a mass shooting on the campus of Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island 

Smiley 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.

The first 911 call reported shots fired at Brown’s engineering building at 4.05pm while students studied for an end-of-semester exam. 

By the time officers swept the scene, the suspect had fled through an exit, officials said. 

The shooter, who was armed with a handgun, fired more than 40 9mm rounds, law enforcement officials said.