‘We have a murderer out there’: Rhode Island authorities say Providence is safe despite having no suspect in Brown shooting

Despite having released the person of interest and having no suspect in the case, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said, "The status of safety in our community remains unchanged, and we believe that you remain safe in our community."

Attorney General Peter Neronha reiterated that, but said, "We have a murderer out there, frankly, and so we're not going to give away the game, the game plan, but the fact of the matter is, is that a law enforcement has the tools necessary to solve this case, but we're 36 hours out." Authorities are seeking both tips and footage from the public.

On Saturday afternoon, a gunman broke into a lecture hall on the Brown University campus and opened fire. Police have said that there is no surveillance footage of the shooter inside the engineering building where an economics study session was taking place. The gunman went into that room, opened fire, and left.

The first victim of that shooting was named as Ella Cook, a conservative student from Alabama who was praised by peers for never backing down from her views, even on the liberal, New England campus.

The only surveillance footage authorities have shared show the shooter from behind. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha spoke about the release of that person of interest, saying that he regretted that there had been a leak of that man's name. That is the only footage that has been released because they have no other footage that would be useful in soliciting public help in tracking the gunman down.

"If we had that video, you'd have it. If there was a piece of video where we could show you a face and say this is a person of interest or suspect, you'd have it," Neronha said.

Neronha praised the work of the Providence police department as did the chief of police. Reporter Brian Entin pointed out how absurd it is that there's no camera footage from inside the building.

"Collectively, the team developed leads in a number of areas," Neronha said. "One was chased to ground. It led to us detaining a person of interest. And so those words, and how we choose those words when we're talking about an investigation, matter. And what it means here is that certainly there was some degree of evidence that pointed to this individual, but that evidence needed to be corroborated and confirmed and over the last 24 hours leading into just, just very, very recently, that evidence now points in a different direction. So what that means is that this person of interest needs to be and should be released. Think what is really unfortunate that this person's name was leaked to the public."

Right Angle News Network was appalled at the behavior and commentary of the authorities, including the mayor, governor, attorney general and chief of police, saying, "It's 'unfortunate' any of these people have jobs."

Curtis Houck was shocked to find that Rhode Island authorities were saying the community was safe after it turned out that they were likely no closer to finding a suspect than they were when the gunman opened fire.

Parents rights activist Nicole Solas, who lives in Rhode Island, was horrified and said she was taking precautions to protect herself and her family. "I live in Rhode Island," Solas said. "Unbelievable that we don't know what the guy said, his race, or even hair length after dozens of eye-witness accounts. You can travel RI in an hour. I'm putting my house alarm on during the daytime. Remember the Boston bomber hid at a guy's house."