December 14, 2025 • 19 mins
Police have confirmed they have a man in custody in connection with Saturday’s mass shooting at Brown University that left 2 students dead and 9 others injured. The shelter in place order was finally lifted more than 13 hours after the university told students to “Run, Hide or Fight” with an armed, active shooter on campus. Amy and T.J go over the latest details on a story that has shaken the ivy league campus as students were taking their last finals before the holidays.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Heyther folks.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It is Sunday, December fourteenth, and we have a developing
story this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
A suspect we.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Do believe is in custody after a mass shooting at
an Ivy League school over the weekend. Welcome to this
episode of Amy and TJ on this Sunday Ropes. As
we speak, we're just getting word that, yes, shooting that
resulted in at least two dead another nine injured at
Columbia University on Saturday. They've been looking for a suspect.
(00:28):
It has been a herring, scary night for that campus.
We are just now coming on and they say they
got the person in custody.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yes, this all began around four o'clock yesterday afternoon. Some
students and faculty members overnight had been literally sheltering in place.
We got word just before six am that that shelter
in place order had been lifted. And now it makes
a lot of sense because we are from what we understand,
NBC News is reporting that a suspect is in custody
(00:54):
in connection with the shooting yesterday. They say that the
person taken into city had a unique characteristic on his firearm,
and that firearm was found when he was taken into custody.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Now, that detail coming to was from NBC New CNN
also reporting that suspecting custody. Can you remind me where
there was a location they're saying where again, Providence is
a small place, but where were they saying?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
They say it was at a hotel near the Providence Airport.
Everyone reporters who've been following the story noticed there was
some significant police activity, about twenty FBI agents all in
this parking lot surrounding this motel. And when asked, initially
I thought this was very telling. The police officer said,
this is a small state. Connect the dots, yes, this
(01:39):
is in connection with the shooting, and turns out yes,
Both NBC and CNN have reported they were able to
confirm with law enforcement that a man has been taken
into custody and it is the suspect in this shooting.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
And this is hell of a relief for this campus because, folks,
you cannot imagine this type of terror, this type of horror,
when this happens to a campus community. This is such
a place. You have all these parents knowing they got there.
Eleven thousand kids are there, so that's a community. It's
a larger community in Providence. I'm just saying, when these
things happening on campuses, they are just terrifying. So that's
(02:14):
one thing, Rose. But this campus has been in fear
for the past twelve plus hours, but they had no overnight.
They're still hiding out.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah, can you imagine, So at four pm, and look
what was going on, folks, my college student came back
on Friday. Thank goodness, you start to get so nervous,
but here are these kids taking their last finals. Analyse
was taking all her finals last week to come home
for the holiday season. And sure enough, these kids were
taking their last finals four pm, studying quietly, getting ready
(02:46):
to go home for the holidays, and all of a sudden,
alerts just go out on everyone's phones. And thank goodness,
these systems are in place, so everyone was able to
lock the doors, shelter in place. But yes, some of
these kids and faculty members hiding in basements, hiding in classrooms,
hiding in gymnasiums for hours on end, waiting for word
about when they could be free to go about their business,
(03:09):
and they have been stuck overnight.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
And again, folks, we are coming to you and talking
to you about this on Sunday morning here in the
early morning hours, but as of the past couple of
hours before this moment, you had that entire campus literally
hiding because they did not know who or where the
shooter was, if it's among them, I think the suspect.
(03:33):
Initially they were saying they thought was a man in
his thirties, but didn't know if it was connected to
the campus and how he was a student. So, just
to give you an idea of that fear that has
been there overnight for this day for Brown University is
just it's terrifying. So this was the alert that went
out and roads we see these, they have these systems
in place, Run, hide, fight. Everybody knows what that means now.
(03:55):
But this happened yesterday at four to twenty two, and
this was the first alert that the campus got. It
said said there's an active shooter near Barras and Holly Engineering.
Lock doors, silence phones, and stay hidden until further notice.
Remember run if you're in an affected area, Evacuate safely
if you can hide. If evacuation is not possible, take cover,
(04:16):
fight as a last resort. Take action to protect yourself.
Stay tuned for further safety information. So it started right
after four, and by four twenty two they got this alert.
We had different campus experiences. All this stuff wasn't around,
but every college campus has this system in place. And
to think all those kids got that on their phones yesterday.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
I know, it is so scary, and you're afraid to
even call your parents. Obviously you're texting everyone. And we
have all these stories from students who are texting their parents.
I'm okay, but I'm hiding here and we're doing this,
and I'm just imagining, as a parent, the fear because
this gunman was on the loose. And they released video
pretty shortly afterwards, and I have to tell you, it
was so scary not see his face. He is dressed
(05:01):
in black from head to toe. And what really struck
me is how casually he walked out of that building
after shooting nine people in a classroom, literally stuck in
this classroom. It was specifically the Principles of Economics final
that was where the shooting started. But to see him
just so calmly and casually walk away from all that carnage,
(05:25):
and he wasn't running.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
And they released that footage because they were, hey, does
anybody know this guy? They would have been asking for
the public's help. You couldn't see I don't think right
ropes a weapon in that video. I didn't see one,
but you kind of see him from the back making
a turn on a sign walk And I was kind
of struck too that he certainly wasn't running. I mean,
he didn't seem to be that urgent and stepping at all,
(05:47):
but I couldn't tell. But it was just dark, and
to think this guy had just done what they say
he did and was walking on campus. So they believe
they got this person in custody. Don't know how he's
connected to the school, but they did tell us, unfortunately, folks,
that every single victim as a student. They came out
and confirmed that all the victims are students. At this point,
two dead and as we said, six or this morning
(06:10):
listed in critical but stable condition, one listed as critical,
one listed as stable, and then there was another who
was treated and released. But this was not a gunshot victim,
but still someone who was injured in all that shooting. Again,
four o'clock, they're in there, finals taking place in this building.
This is a big building on campus. You've been on
any college campus, you know, various buildings big, small, and whatever.
(06:33):
This is a good size that had classrooms, lecture halls,
seven story building, they said, you can imagine it was.
I mean, you know how it goes right now on
a college campus.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I mean, have you ever been to Brown's campus. I
went years and years ago just for a story. And
it is gorgeous. It is idyllic. It looks like a
Norman Rockwell campus where you've got just beautiful, old New
England buildings. It feels so safe. This is obviously a
prestigious Ivy League school and it's just a place. I
(07:03):
know people say this all the time, but you actually
really think nothing bad happens here. This is such and
so to have that be so disrupted and so disruptive
right around the holidays too, I just think all the kids.
I think about all the stress analysts was even feeling
this week, getting packed up, getting ready, getting all her finals,
getting all the studying done. You're ready to just go
home and just enjoy your family. And to think this
(07:26):
all is happening at a time where your head is
completely somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
And you know, those two kids who are being expected home.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
For Christmas soon heartbreaking.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
The other kids baying, Thank God, they survived. But that
is all the holidays are about now, is recovery, and
certainly about blessings maybe. But those kids were expected home.
And I think I put it like that because I'm
looking over here and we got a college kid sleeping
in that room, just a little wit bit across the
way from where we're sitting, and I know how much prep,
(08:02):
and I know how excited she's been, and I know
all these things that went into this moment to make
this house good and.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Christmas wins the airport. We were so excited to see her.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Didn't have to write. Actually, I said we shouldn't. I said,
why are we gonna go through all that traffic to go?
They just put it in an uber. We picked her up,
her friend up, rolled together an hour back.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
We had a great time drive and play. It was great.
I'm putting.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Ourselves in the shoes of those parents who were all
waiting on those kids to come home in a matter
of days, and this is what has happened. We have
no idea at this point about a motive. We have
no idea what connection this person might have to the school.
They say they have a suspecting custody, but robes we
(08:52):
have seen in recent incidents, folks say someone was arrested,
then that person got released.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
It wasn't really the person, So we will wait.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
But I don't think they're going to make an announcement
about having the person if is not the person. But
this actually made its way to the President of the
United States, and that rose. They did earlier say they
had somebody. There was a suspect in custody. Long many
early and then some of the early hours, to the
point the President of the United States put out a
(09:21):
message saying he had been brief quote, I have been
briefed on the shooting that took place at Brown University
in Rhode Island. The FBI has on the scene. The
suspect is in custody. God blessed the victims and the
families of the victims. That was President Trump.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
And that was last night.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
That's tough too, because you know, I mean, you can
imagine parents on pins and needles waiting to hear what's
happening on that campus. If the suspect's been caught, you
get that word from the President of the United States,
and you think, thank God, your shoulders can relax, you
can feel, you can breathe, a sigh of relief because
you've been texting with your student who's literally hiding somewhere
(09:58):
and lo and behold Trump to then later come out
and say, the Brown University police reverse their previous statement.
The suspect is not in custody.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I mean yeah, I mean look, it's it's fast moving.
They they're working hard. They haven't figured everything out. It
wasn't this the this was the Charlie Kirk.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
It's exactly what happened with Charlie Kirk Cash Battel. Oh yeah,
but out that they had the suspect, and we were
actually doing podcasts in real time reacting to this. It
was such a developing, breaking news story that we started
to report it. It's like, wait, they're reversing it. Like
Cash Battel, when you hear the FBI director telling you
something or it's not like we need to double source that,
(10:36):
or when you're hearing the President of the United States
saying something, you typically as a reporter or a journalist,
can take them at their word because you're actually feeling
fairly safe that these are folks who have double sourced,
triple sourced, quadruple source what they're telling the American public
before they actually say.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
You said something really crazy. Just to think about the
idea and working in this business, we know source, right, Okay,
that was a good Okay, I gotta go get it
from another source and another source. We are to a
point if the FBI director tells us, we say, let
me go, let me go check on this before. That's
crazy to think that's actually unprecied. It's crazy, it is.
And now Trump's credit here. He was getting it from
(11:17):
the police there, so they were giving him this information.
He was only relaying what they were saying. But yes,
they thought they had a suspect, did not have.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
How did that happen? How did police think? I guess
in the confusion of thinking someone got arrested, that made
its way off. That's terrible. That information made its way
all the way to the president and it was completely false.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
You know what, You make a good point. You shouldn't
allow your president to say something like that because those
words are very meaningful from him. You're right, that's absolutely
right to up that chain.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
You're right.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
It never should have made it to him if they
weren't one hundred percent that this was done and they
could tell the public that.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
And I'm surprised Trump wouldn't be somebody who would fire
a person who put him in that position where you
have completely false information, because that's crying wolf.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
That it's tough to.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Then believe when the president, when the FBI director tells
you something that it's true, that's tough.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
That that completely undermines credibility. Wow, fake news, right, Oh,
the irony and that crazy. I didn't think about that
to this moment. This is not I didn't think about
it to this moment.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
But hey, just to point out that they yes, to
the point just how this has been a developing story.
They thought they had a suspect and they didn't, and
that word got around even up to the President of
the United States.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Now stay here.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
We told you a moment ago that the just lifted
that shelter in place order this morning. But we heard
about the shelter in place order being lifted before we
heard about a suspect in custody. We will now share
with you in just a moment's stay here what the
university put out that was the finally, finally reason to
have some relief on the campus of Brown University's there,
(13:03):
all right, folks, would continue on this Sunday morning here
on December fourteenth. We're just a short time ago as
of this recording, we got word that they do have
a suspecting custody who is responsible for mass shooting at
Brown University. Kids, we're taking their finals on Saturday, around
four o'clock in the afternoon in a building, and he
walks into a room where I think they call it
a final review session, a final exam review session was
(13:25):
going on for an economics class and open fire. Two
kids killed. I say, kids, we don't know the ages here,
but this is a college campus. But they're all students here.
We're told all the victims are students nine in total
that were injured, but two dead. And again, this is
Brown University in Rhode Island, eleven thousand students, the what
(13:46):
is it, the seventh oldest university in the United States.
But folks, this is a prestigious university. We know a
lot of Ivy League schools have very low acceptance rates.
This one sits at five point four percent and they
have a tuition that's more expensive than Harvard, Folks. So
this is a very prestigious school here, Brown University. And well,
this is awful to happen anywhere. And I don't want
(14:08):
to make a distinction of any kind, but when you
juxtapose the horror of what we heard described with what
really is a picturesque in a lot of ways type
of campus, this isn't like campus. This ain't like USC
or UCLA or all right, we know college.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
There's zero expectation of violence or crime. It's it feels
like just a quintessentially safe, protected school.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
It does, and when you look at it, it looks like that.
It just does.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
And look, I'm watching outside our window, the snow falling,
and I'm trying not to get emotional as we just
talked about our college aged daughter picking her up just
two days ago. And you see the snow falling, and
you see the holidays upon us, and I just think
about those four families who either have lost their child
in this tragedy or are rushing to the hospital to
(15:01):
be by their child's bedside, hoping they pull through.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
And you know, and the other thing, I mean, I
think about the idea, Well, I don't know where these kids.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Are from, so I mean there might be parents who
can't even get back and get to their kids.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Right now, we're trying to drive through a show storm
right now.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, there is a snowstorm going on right now in
the northeast and.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
So all of that, all of that, and it could
be some international students, is what. You just don't know
that this awful, awful, awful. But this morning it kind
of it perplexed us a little bit because we were
on the Brown University website and you can see you
can read through all these alerts they started giving to
the kids starting at four to twenty two yesterday when
the shooting happened. But they put out one this morning
(15:41):
at five forty two am. Was it, yes, and essentially
saying the shelter in place was lifted. And we're like, wow,
why would they.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Do that because you could see the perimeter and they
had spent the night. By the way, this is what
was going on in Providence. All throughout the night while
we were all sleeping, police officers were going building by
building through all the different administrative buildings and protecting the
students and like bringing them to a safe space where
they could spend the night but also still shelter in place.
(16:09):
But they were getting police protective movement basically to get
kids out of buildings. They had been in all night long,
hunkering down together. There were gymnasiums with more than one
hundred kids in there, all scared and trying to you know,
barricade themselves, hiding under desks. Can you imagine for hours
upon hours until police can finally come in and safely
(16:32):
get you somewhere else outside of that perimeter.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
But so this is a huge perimeter that.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
They are basically holding students in and finally yet five
forty two, like, why would they release these students if
the gunman's still on the loose. So they wrote to everyone,
Providence Police. This is at five forty two am here
on Sunday. Providence Police have advised the university that the
shelter in place order has ended for the entire ground campus. However,
(16:57):
police activity continues in areas that are still considered an
active crime scene. Be advised that access to these areas
of campus continues to be limited within the police perimeter,
including Minden Hall and nearby apartment buildings. Community members who
leave those buildings will be unable to return. It is
important to follow instructions from law enforcement at all times.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Five forty two, so they knew something at least and
we do want to say. Now they have been giving
some updates roads I'm looking at that they are the
mayor is calling this a person of interest. A person
of interest is in custody. They're not being clear here
and being careful as they often are, not to say suspect,
but a person of interest is in custody, however, I think,
which is very important to note. They also say we
(17:41):
not looking for anybody else.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Correct. They're telling the public they do not believe there's
a threat to the public.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
But this person is in custody, and that's all we
got for now.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
And the good news is too that the folks who
were the other students who were injured, we now know
that they are in stable condition. Only one of them
is now still in critical condition. So it seems as
though there has been improvement throughout the night. That is
such good news. I just I cannot imagine just waiting
to hear how your child is doing that the unthinkable
(18:11):
has happened, and you are waiting on their condition reports.
But because those hospitals were on lockdown too, I don't
even know if parents could come and go with all
of this chaos going on, and they weren't sure where
the gunman was. So the good news is a person
of interest is in custody. The eight others or the
nine others who were injured, there's only one now that
remains in critical condition. But sadly, two students died while
(18:34):
preparing for a final on the Saturday before they were
leaving for the holidays.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Yeah, a couple of weeks from Christmas?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Right?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
And the other thing, those are eleven thousand parents made
phone calls as soon as news broke, right, of course,
how long before so many parents got confirmation that it
wasn't their kid? Right, I'm sure those text messages started flying,
but a lot of parents didn't get those text messages immediately.
You're waiting to see if your kid was shot? Is
the how you spend the two saturdays before Christmas? It
(19:06):
just stin't right, is it? The folks who wanted to
hop on an update, and we will keep an eye
on this story, but man, hug them tight, tell them
you love them, and try to be a little kind
out there, folks, because there are a lot of people
who are going through it right now, in particularly in
Rhode Island, and they need you, your thought, your prayers
and your love. Right, now, so we always appreciate you
spending some time here with us.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
For Henry Robot, I'm TJ. Holmes, who will be talking
to you all very soon
Heyther folks.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It is Sunday, December fourteenth, and we have a developing
story this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
A suspect we.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Do believe is in custody after a mass shooting at
an Ivy League school over the weekend. Welcome to this
episode of Amy and TJ on this Sunday Ropes. As
we speak, we're just getting word that, yes, shooting that
resulted in at least two dead another nine injured at
Columbia University on Saturday. They've been looking for a suspect.
(00:28):
It has been a herring, scary night for that campus.
We are just now coming on and they say they
got the person in custody.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yes, this all began around four o'clock yesterday afternoon. Some
students and faculty members overnight had been literally sheltering in place.
We got word just before six am that that shelter
in place order had been lifted. And now it makes
a lot of sense because we are from what we understand,
NBC News is reporting that a suspect is in custody
(00:54):
in connection with the shooting yesterday. They say that the
person taken into city had a unique characteristic on his firearm,
and that firearm was found when he was taken into custody.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Now, that detail coming to was from NBC New CNN
also reporting that suspecting custody. Can you remind me where
there was a location they're saying where again, Providence is
a small place, but where were they saying?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
They say it was at a hotel near the Providence Airport.
Everyone reporters who've been following the story noticed there was
some significant police activity, about twenty FBI agents all in
this parking lot surrounding this motel. And when asked, initially
I thought this was very telling. The police officer said,
this is a small state. Connect the dots, yes, this
(01:39):
is in connection with the shooting, and turns out yes,
Both NBC and CNN have reported they were able to
confirm with law enforcement that a man has been taken
into custody and it is the suspect in this shooting.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
And this is hell of a relief for this campus because, folks,
you cannot imagine this type of terror, this type of horror,
when this happens to a campus community. This is such
a place. You have all these parents knowing they got there.
Eleven thousand kids are there, so that's a community. It's
a larger community in Providence. I'm just saying, when these
things happening on campuses, they are just terrifying. So that's
(02:14):
one thing, Rose. But this campus has been in fear
for the past twelve plus hours, but they had no overnight.
They're still hiding out.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah, can you imagine, So at four pm, and look
what was going on, folks, my college student came back
on Friday. Thank goodness, you start to get so nervous,
but here are these kids taking their last finals. Analyse
was taking all her finals last week to come home
for the holiday season. And sure enough, these kids were
taking their last finals four pm, studying quietly, getting ready
(02:46):
to go home for the holidays, and all of a sudden,
alerts just go out on everyone's phones. And thank goodness,
these systems are in place, so everyone was able to
lock the doors, shelter in place. But yes, some of
these kids and faculty members hiding in basements, hiding in classrooms,
hiding in gymnasiums for hours on end, waiting for word
about when they could be free to go about their business,
(03:09):
and they have been stuck overnight.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
And again, folks, we are coming to you and talking
to you about this on Sunday morning here in the
early morning hours, but as of the past couple of
hours before this moment, you had that entire campus literally
hiding because they did not know who or where the
shooter was, if it's among them, I think the suspect.
(03:33):
Initially they were saying they thought was a man in
his thirties, but didn't know if it was connected to
the campus and how he was a student. So, just
to give you an idea of that fear that has
been there overnight for this day for Brown University is
just it's terrifying. So this was the alert that went
out and roads we see these, they have these systems
in place, Run, hide, fight. Everybody knows what that means now.
(03:55):
But this happened yesterday at four to twenty two, and
this was the first alert that the campus got. It
said said there's an active shooter near Barras and Holly Engineering.
Lock doors, silence phones, and stay hidden until further notice.
Remember run if you're in an affected area, Evacuate safely
if you can hide. If evacuation is not possible, take cover,
(04:16):
fight as a last resort. Take action to protect yourself.
Stay tuned for further safety information. So it started right
after four, and by four twenty two they got this alert.
We had different campus experiences. All this stuff wasn't around,
but every college campus has this system in place. And
to think all those kids got that on their phones yesterday.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
I know, it is so scary, and you're afraid to
even call your parents. Obviously you're texting everyone. And we
have all these stories from students who are texting their parents.
I'm okay, but I'm hiding here and we're doing this,
and I'm just imagining, as a parent, the fear because
this gunman was on the loose. And they released video
pretty shortly afterwards, and I have to tell you, it
was so scary not see his face. He is dressed
(05:01):
in black from head to toe. And what really struck
me is how casually he walked out of that building
after shooting nine people in a classroom, literally stuck in
this classroom. It was specifically the Principles of Economics final
that was where the shooting started. But to see him
just so calmly and casually walk away from all that carnage,
(05:25):
and he wasn't running.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
And they released that footage because they were, hey, does
anybody know this guy? They would have been asking for
the public's help. You couldn't see I don't think right
ropes a weapon in that video. I didn't see one,
but you kind of see him from the back making
a turn on a sign walk And I was kind
of struck too that he certainly wasn't running. I mean,
he didn't seem to be that urgent and stepping at all,
(05:47):
but I couldn't tell. But it was just dark, and
to think this guy had just done what they say
he did and was walking on campus. So they believe
they got this person in custody. Don't know how he's
connected to the school, but they did tell us, unfortunately, folks,
that every single victim as a student. They came out
and confirmed that all the victims are students. At this point,
two dead and as we said, six or this morning
(06:10):
listed in critical but stable condition, one listed as critical,
one listed as stable, and then there was another who
was treated and released. But this was not a gunshot victim,
but still someone who was injured in all that shooting. Again,
four o'clock, they're in there, finals taking place in this building.
This is a big building on campus. You've been on
any college campus, you know, various buildings big, small, and whatever.
(06:33):
This is a good size that had classrooms, lecture halls,
seven story building, they said, you can imagine it was.
I mean, you know how it goes right now on
a college campus.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I mean, have you ever been to Brown's campus. I
went years and years ago just for a story. And
it is gorgeous. It is idyllic. It looks like a
Norman Rockwell campus where you've got just beautiful, old New
England buildings. It feels so safe. This is obviously a
prestigious Ivy League school and it's just a place. I
(07:03):
know people say this all the time, but you actually
really think nothing bad happens here. This is such and
so to have that be so disrupted and so disruptive
right around the holidays too, I just think all the kids.
I think about all the stress analysts was even feeling
this week, getting packed up, getting ready, getting all her finals,
getting all the studying done. You're ready to just go
home and just enjoy your family. And to think this
(07:26):
all is happening at a time where your head is
completely somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
And you know, those two kids who are being expected home.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
For Christmas soon heartbreaking.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
The other kids baying, Thank God, they survived. But that
is all the holidays are about now, is recovery, and
certainly about blessings maybe. But those kids were expected home.
And I think I put it like that because I'm
looking over here and we got a college kid sleeping
in that room, just a little wit bit across the
way from where we're sitting, and I know how much prep,
(08:02):
and I know how excited she's been, and I know
all these things that went into this moment to make
this house good and.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Christmas wins the airport. We were so excited to see her.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Didn't have to write. Actually, I said we shouldn't. I said,
why are we gonna go through all that traffic to go?
They just put it in an uber. We picked her up,
her friend up, rolled together an hour back.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
We had a great time drive and play. It was great.
I'm putting.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Ourselves in the shoes of those parents who were all
waiting on those kids to come home in a matter
of days, and this is what has happened. We have
no idea at this point about a motive. We have
no idea what connection this person might have to the school.
They say they have a suspecting custody, but robes we
(08:52):
have seen in recent incidents, folks say someone was arrested,
then that person got released.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
It wasn't really the person, So we will wait.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
But I don't think they're going to make an announcement
about having the person if is not the person. But
this actually made its way to the President of the
United States, and that rose. They did earlier say they
had somebody. There was a suspect in custody. Long many
early and then some of the early hours, to the
point the President of the United States put out a
(09:21):
message saying he had been brief quote, I have been
briefed on the shooting that took place at Brown University
in Rhode Island. The FBI has on the scene. The
suspect is in custody. God blessed the victims and the
families of the victims. That was President Trump.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
And that was last night.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
That's tough too, because you know, I mean, you can
imagine parents on pins and needles waiting to hear what's
happening on that campus. If the suspect's been caught, you
get that word from the President of the United States,
and you think, thank God, your shoulders can relax, you
can feel, you can breathe, a sigh of relief because
you've been texting with your student who's literally hiding somewhere
(09:58):
and lo and behold Trump to then later come out
and say, the Brown University police reverse their previous statement.
The suspect is not in custody.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I mean yeah, I mean look, it's it's fast moving.
They they're working hard. They haven't figured everything out. It
wasn't this the this was the Charlie Kirk.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
It's exactly what happened with Charlie Kirk Cash Battel. Oh yeah,
but out that they had the suspect, and we were
actually doing podcasts in real time reacting to this. It
was such a developing, breaking news story that we started
to report it. It's like, wait, they're reversing it. Like
Cash Battel, when you hear the FBI director telling you
something or it's not like we need to double source that,
(10:36):
or when you're hearing the President of the United States
saying something, you typically as a reporter or a journalist,
can take them at their word because you're actually feeling
fairly safe that these are folks who have double sourced,
triple sourced, quadruple source what they're telling the American public
before they actually say.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
You said something really crazy. Just to think about the
idea and working in this business, we know source, right, Okay,
that was a good Okay, I gotta go get it
from another source and another source. We are to a
point if the FBI director tells us, we say, let
me go, let me go check on this before. That's
crazy to think that's actually unprecied. It's crazy, it is.
And now Trump's credit here. He was getting it from
(11:17):
the police there, so they were giving him this information.
He was only relaying what they were saying. But yes,
they thought they had a suspect, did not have.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
How did that happen? How did police think? I guess
in the confusion of thinking someone got arrested, that made
its way off. That's terrible. That information made its way
all the way to the president and it was completely false.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
You know what, You make a good point. You shouldn't
allow your president to say something like that because those
words are very meaningful from him. You're right, that's absolutely
right to up that chain.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
You're right.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
It never should have made it to him if they
weren't one hundred percent that this was done and they
could tell the public that.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
And I'm surprised Trump wouldn't be somebody who would fire
a person who put him in that position where you
have completely false information, because that's crying wolf.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
That it's tough to.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Then believe when the president, when the FBI director tells
you something that it's true, that's tough.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
That that completely undermines credibility. Wow, fake news, right, Oh,
the irony and that crazy. I didn't think about that
to this moment. This is not I didn't think about
it to this moment.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
But hey, just to point out that they yes, to
the point just how this has been a developing story.
They thought they had a suspect and they didn't, and
that word got around even up to the President of
the United States.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Now stay here.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
We told you a moment ago that the just lifted
that shelter in place order this morning. But we heard
about the shelter in place order being lifted before we
heard about a suspect in custody. We will now share
with you in just a moment's stay here what the
university put out that was the finally, finally reason to
have some relief on the campus of Brown University's there,
(13:03):
all right, folks, would continue on this Sunday morning here
on December fourteenth. We're just a short time ago as
of this recording, we got word that they do have
a suspecting custody who is responsible for mass shooting at
Brown University. Kids, we're taking their finals on Saturday, around
four o'clock in the afternoon in a building, and he
walks into a room where I think they call it
a final review session, a final exam review session was
(13:25):
going on for an economics class and open fire. Two
kids killed. I say, kids, we don't know the ages here,
but this is a college campus. But they're all students here.
We're told all the victims are students nine in total
that were injured, but two dead. And again, this is
Brown University in Rhode Island, eleven thousand students, the what
(13:46):
is it, the seventh oldest university in the United States.
But folks, this is a prestigious university. We know a
lot of Ivy League schools have very low acceptance rates.
This one sits at five point four percent and they
have a tuition that's more expensive than Harvard, Folks. So
this is a very prestigious school here, Brown University. And well,
this is awful to happen anywhere. And I don't want
(14:08):
to make a distinction of any kind, but when you
juxtapose the horror of what we heard described with what
really is a picturesque in a lot of ways type
of campus, this isn't like campus. This ain't like USC
or UCLA or all right, we know college.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
There's zero expectation of violence or crime. It's it feels
like just a quintessentially safe, protected school.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
It does, and when you look at it, it looks like that.
It just does.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
And look, I'm watching outside our window, the snow falling,
and I'm trying not to get emotional as we just
talked about our college aged daughter picking her up just
two days ago. And you see the snow falling, and
you see the holidays upon us, and I just think
about those four families who either have lost their child
in this tragedy or are rushing to the hospital to
(15:01):
be by their child's bedside, hoping they pull through.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
And you know, and the other thing, I mean, I
think about the idea, Well, I don't know where these kids.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Are from, so I mean there might be parents who
can't even get back and get to their kids.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Right now, we're trying to drive through a show storm
right now.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, there is a snowstorm going on right now in
the northeast and.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
So all of that, all of that, and it could
be some international students, is what. You just don't know
that this awful, awful, awful. But this morning it kind
of it perplexed us a little bit because we were
on the Brown University website and you can see you
can read through all these alerts they started giving to
the kids starting at four to twenty two yesterday when
the shooting happened. But they put out one this morning
(15:41):
at five forty two am. Was it, yes, and essentially
saying the shelter in place was lifted. And we're like, wow,
why would they.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Do that because you could see the perimeter and they
had spent the night. By the way, this is what
was going on in Providence. All throughout the night while
we were all sleeping, police officers were going building by
building through all the different administrative buildings and protecting the
students and like bringing them to a safe space where
they could spend the night but also still shelter in place.
(16:09):
But they were getting police protective movement basically to get
kids out of buildings. They had been in all night long,
hunkering down together. There were gymnasiums with more than one
hundred kids in there, all scared and trying to you know,
barricade themselves, hiding under desks. Can you imagine for hours
upon hours until police can finally come in and safely
(16:32):
get you somewhere else outside of that perimeter.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
But so this is a huge perimeter that.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
They are basically holding students in and finally yet five
forty two, like, why would they release these students if
the gunman's still on the loose. So they wrote to everyone,
Providence Police. This is at five forty two am here
on Sunday. Providence Police have advised the university that the
shelter in place order has ended for the entire ground campus. However,
(16:57):
police activity continues in areas that are still considered an
active crime scene. Be advised that access to these areas
of campus continues to be limited within the police perimeter,
including Minden Hall and nearby apartment buildings. Community members who
leave those buildings will be unable to return. It is
important to follow instructions from law enforcement at all times.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Five forty two, so they knew something at least and
we do want to say. Now they have been giving
some updates roads I'm looking at that they are the
mayor is calling this a person of interest. A person
of interest is in custody. They're not being clear here
and being careful as they often are, not to say suspect,
but a person of interest is in custody, however, I think,
which is very important to note. They also say we
(17:41):
not looking for anybody else.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Correct. They're telling the public they do not believe there's
a threat to the public.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
But this person is in custody, and that's all we
got for now.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
And the good news is too that the folks who
were the other students who were injured, we now know
that they are in stable condition. Only one of them
is now still in critical condition. So it seems as
though there has been improvement throughout the night. That is
such good news. I just I cannot imagine just waiting
to hear how your child is doing that the unthinkable
(18:11):
has happened, and you are waiting on their condition reports.
But because those hospitals were on lockdown too, I don't
even know if parents could come and go with all
of this chaos going on, and they weren't sure where
the gunman was. So the good news is a person
of interest is in custody. The eight others or the
nine others who were injured, there's only one now that
remains in critical condition. But sadly, two students died while
(18:34):
preparing for a final on the Saturday before they were
leaving for the holidays.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Yeah, a couple of weeks from Christmas?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Right?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
And the other thing, those are eleven thousand parents made
phone calls as soon as news broke, right, of course,
how long before so many parents got confirmation that it
wasn't their kid? Right, I'm sure those text messages started flying,
but a lot of parents didn't get those text messages immediately.
You're waiting to see if your kid was shot? Is
the how you spend the two saturdays before Christmas? It
(19:06):
just stin't right, is it? The folks who wanted to
hop on an update, and we will keep an eye
on this story, but man, hug them tight, tell them
you love them, and try to be a little kind
out there, folks, because there are a lot of people
who are going through it right now, in particularly in
Rhode Island, and they need you, your thought, your prayers
and your love. Right, now, so we always appreciate you
spending some time here with us.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
For Henry Robot, I'm TJ. Holmes, who will be talking
to you all very soon
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