The section of Brown University’s Barus & Holley engineering and physics building, where a tragic shooting occurred, lacked surveillance cameras due to the building’s age, according to officials on Tuesday. This revelation comes despite the university president’s residence, which is older, seemingly having modern video monitoring systems.

During a press conference on Tuesday, concerns were raised about the limited security cameras in the Barus & Holley building, especially given Brown University’s substantial $7.2 billion endowment. Officials also released new images of a person of interest connected to the incident.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha explained that an extension was added to the academic building about five years ago. This newer section, situated at the front, is equipped with surveillance cameras, he noted.

“The building comprises two parts: the older back section and the newer front addition,” Neronha stated. “The shooting took place in the back, older section, which, likely due to its age, has fewer, if any, cameras installed.”

While the Barus & Holley building struggles with security measures due to its age, the official residence of Brown University’s president, despite being older, appears to be well-equipped with multiple surveillance cameras. This raises questions about the university’s prioritization of security resources across its campus facilities.

“So, as students are fleeing the area of the shooting into the new part of the building, there are cameras in that brand new building that show that chaos,” he added. 

The lack of cameras in the building has put the university in the spotlight as authorities continue to try and identify a person of interest whose image was captured on cameras outside the grounds of the Ivy League campus.

Surveillance camera graphic shows blind spot near Barus & Holley building at Brown University. (Surveillance Under Surveillance)

Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez said there was no clear video of the gunman from inside the engineering building where the shooting took place despite the university being equipped with 1,200 security cameras across campus. 

The Barus & Holley building was built in 1965. The seven-story, 220,000 square-foot structure houses the School of Engineering and the physics department. 

FBI agents, some wearing jackets with “Evidence Response Team” emblazoned on the back, enter an entrance at the Barus & Holley engineering building on Brown University’s campus Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (Gregory Norman-Diamond)

It includes 117 laboratories, 150 offices, 15 classrooms, 29 laboratory classrooms and 3 lecture halls, according to the university’s website. 

The Elizabeth Hazard Sturges House, the school president’s official residence, is a Gregorian Revival-style house that was built in 1922 and sold to the university in 1947, according to The Brown Daily Herald. 

A view on Google Maps and images on other websites show what appear to be security cameras installed on the home. It wasn’t clear how many cameras are installed at the home or if any are installed inside.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the university. 

Neronha noted that the shooting happened at the “very edge” of the building that’s on the “very edge” of the campus.

A lone bicycle abandoned inside the crime scene tape at the Barus & Holley Building at Brown University. A gunman killed two students and injured nine. (Greg Norman-Diamond/Fox News Digital)

“So, as those of you who know Providence know, you are very quickly into a residential neighborhood, which is why the video footage you’re seeing of this … person of interest movements pre- and post-shooting are in that neighborhood.”

On its website, the university states that it devotes 1% of the construction budget of all new buildings and major renovations to the commission of artwork for the building or grounds as part of its “Percent-for-Art” program.