THE man taken into police custody as a person of interest in the shooting at Brown University has been identified as Benjamin Erickson of Wisconsin.
The 24-year-old was detained in the early hours of Sunday morning, police confirmed.
Erickson was named by three senior law enforcement officials who spoke to NBC News and the Washington Post.
He was cuffed but has not explicitly been named as a suspect by authorities.
Cops took him into custody after using geo-location to track him to a hotel room located about 15 miles from the campus in Providence.
Agents reportedly recovered two firearms including one with a laser sight attachment, an official briefed on the investigation told the Post.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said residents in the community could “breathe a sigh of relief” following the arrest.
He said: “My message for the Providence community is, one, they should feel safer this morning than they did when they went to bed last night.
“But they should continue to do what we’re doing, which is to focus our efforts on sending prayers and positive thoughts to those who are recovering at the hospital.”
Two people were killed and nine others injured when gunfire broke out at Brown’s engineering building on Saturday.
Footage released by police late Saturday showed the alleged shooter moments after leaving the area where the gunfire erupted.
In the clip, the suspect is seen calmly turning a corner and walking onto Hope Street, dressed head-to-toe in dark clothing.
Police said his face appears obscured, either by a hood or face covering, making identification difficult.
The video then shows the suspected gunman taking a right onto Waterman Street, according to Providence Police Department Commander Timothy O’Hara.
Witnesses told investigators he may have been wearing a grey camo face mask at the time.
Gunfire erupted on Saturday during the students’ second day of final exams for the fall semester.
Brown University is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the US with about 7,300 undergraduates and just over 3,000 graduate students.
All classes and exams for the rest of the semester have been canceled and students are free to go home to their families, the university provost, Francis J. Doyle III has said.
“Everybody is reeling, and we have a lot of recovery ahead of us,” President of Brown University, Christina Paxon added on Sunday morning.
She added that numerous resources are available on campus to help the Brown community process the tragedy.
Meanwhile, fellow Brown student Zoe Weissman has spoken out after now surviving two mass shootings in seven years that killed 19 in total and left 27 dead.
