Authorities have reportedly identified the person of interest in the mass shooting at an Ivy League university in Rhode Island.
The man detained as a person of interest in the Brown University shooting was identified as Benjamin Erickson, a 24-year-old from Wisconsin, multiple law enforcement sources told NBC News and The Washington Post on Sunday. Investigators use the term “person of interest” to refer to someone whom they believe has information and wish to question.
The U.S. Army confirmed to the Daily Beast that Erickson served as an infantryman from May 2021 to November 2024. He had no deployments and left the Army in the rank of specialist, Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Ruth Castro said in a statement.
Erickson’s LinkedIn page, first reported by CNN, indicates that he didn’t finish taking his psychology classes at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
“I attended online classes at UWM after graduating high school due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. I joined the army afterwards and resumed taking full time college classes here online in fall 2022 up until spring 2023. I transferred to Brown University after leaving service to attend in the Fall 2025 semester,” he wrote. Brown did not immediately return a request for comment.
Erickson was taken into custody at a hotel about 15 minutes from the Brown campus in Providence, the Post reported. He has not been named as a suspect or charged in connection with the attack that killed two people and injured nine others.
Authorities told NBC that they are looking into Erickson’s mental health history and his connection to Brown.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Providence police for comment.
Public records show that Erickson lived in an apartment in Washington, D.C. as of June 2024. He previously lived in Wisconsin.
Providence police chief Col. Oscar Perez told NBC on Sunday afternoon that officials hope to charge Erickson soon. Authorities cannot hold Erickson beyond tomorrow if no charges are filed against him.
“We’re going to work with the attorney general’s office to make sure that we have the right legal requirements for the charges,” Perez said. “And this is, it’s just complex. There’s a lot of evidence, there’s a lot of witnesses, and so we have to make sure that we have it all tight. And to make sure we have a good case.”
The shooting began around 4 p.m. local time on Saturday. One of the two fatalities has been identified by her church as Ella Cook.
The Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama, told its congregation on Sunday that Cook was killed in the Brown shooting, according to local station WHNT. The other fatality has not yet been identified.
Of those injured, seven are in critical but stable condition, one is in critical condition, and one has been released after treatment.
Durham Academy, a private school in North Carolina, identified Kendall Turner as one of the injured students in critical but stable condition.
“We hope for her continued strength and recovery,” it said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Kendall, her family, and all members of the Brown University community during this incredibly difficult time.”
President Donald Trump offered little consolation to the victims and their families as he delivered remarks at the White House on Sunday.
“And Brown University, great school. Great, really, one of the greatest schools anywhere in the world. Things can happen,” he said. “So to the nine injured, get well fast. And to the families of those two that are no longer with us, I pay my deepest regards and respects from the United States of America. Thank you very much. It’s a very important thing to say. And we mean it.”
