Photo: Providence Police Department
The person of interest taken into custody in connection with the fatal shooting at Brown University on Saturday (December 13) has been identified.
Benjamin Erickson, 24, a Wisconsin native, was detained at a Hampton Inn i Coventry, Rhode Island, following an 11-hour manhunt just before dawn on Sunday (December 14), the New York Post reports. Erickson is reported to have lived in Washington, D.C., since 2024, and is registered with the "statehood" party, according to public records, and previously served as an infantryman in the U.S. Army from May 2021 to November 2024, departing from the military with the rank of specialist, an Army rep confirmed to the New York Post.
The mass shooting was reported on Brown University's East Side campus Saturday, which resulted in the deaths of two students and nine others being transported to local hospitals.
"Our hearts go out to them. This is a day of tremendous sorrow. No parent or family member should ever have to endure a day like this," said Brown University President Christina H. Paxson in a statement shared just before 2:00 a.m. local time. Eight of the nine victims treated for injuries remained hospitalized Sunday (December 14) morning with seven reported to be in stable condition and one in critical but stable condition.
A shelter-in-place order issued for the College Hill campus was lifted early Sunday morning, though the Providence Police Department confirmed that "police activity continues in areas that are still considered an active crime scene."
President Donald Trump addressed the incident, as well as the mass shooting targeting Jewish victims at Bondi Beach in Australia and the deaths of three U.S. soldiers in Syria, during a Christmas event at the White House on Sunday.
“I want to just pay my respects to the people, unfortunately, two are no longer with us, Brown University, nine injured, and two are looking down on us right now from Heaven,” Trump said via the New York Post. “And likewise, in Australia, that was a terrible attack. 11 dead, 29 badly wounded, and that was an anti-Semitic attack, obviously. And I just want to pay my respects to everybody.
“It was a rough day.”