Brown University student survives second campus shooting

PROVIDENCE, RI – A Brown University graduate student who has already lived through two campus shootings says she is in disbelief after the suspect initially detained in Sunday night's shooting was released less than a day later.

Sachi Gandhi, a second-year master's student in biotechnology, told Fox News Digital that she was at her off-campus home in Fox Point when gunfire erupted.

The moment evoked memories of the 2023 shooting at the University of North Carolina, where she spent eight hours locked in a laboratory while a professor was murdered in a nearby building.

“I was in the lab, I was locked in the lab for about eight hours,” Gandhi said. “It was very similar to this in the sense that not many students knew what was going on. Everyone was giving each other misinformation because everyone was scared. Everyone gets really scared when they hear things.”

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Gandhi emphasized that the two shootings were very different, noting that the Brown incident involved multiple victims — a “mass casualty,” in his words. But the emotional experience, he said, was “just as terrifying.”

Speaking about the Brown shooting, Gandhi said students initially breathed a sigh of relief when police announced they had detained a suspect. But when authorities later released that same individual, panic spread across campus.

“It was really scary,” he told Fox News Digital. “Most of my friends are already gone. My parents called saying they were coming from Georgia to pick me up.”

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Emergency personnel gather on Waterman Street at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

He said the reversal left students feeling exposed and unprotected.

“It's really a disaster,” Gandhi said. “And where does our money go if we can't catch this guy?”

He clarified that he was referring to taxpayer money, not his Brown tuition.

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Police cordoned off hotel rooms where the person of interest was arrested in a shooting, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Coventry, Rhode Island. (Kimberlee Kruesi/AP Photo)

Gandhi praised Brown University, calling it an “amazing institution” with extensive camera coverage. Their frustration lies in the process that allowed the detained suspect to be released so quickly.

“It bothers me more to find someone and release them a day later,” he said. “It just affects a lot of students, especially the ones that are still here.”

The shooting at Brown resulted in multiple victims and locked down the university community as police launched a search for the gunman. Authorities have not announced any new arrests.

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People hold candles during a vigil, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Providence, Rhode Island, for the victims of Saturday's shooting on the Brown University campus. (Steven Senne/AP Photo)

Gandhi said that while the shootings were different in scale and circumstances, both left students facing the same fog of fear, confusion and misinformation.

“No one knew what was real,” he said. “That's exactly what happened at UNC, too.”

Despite the fear, he said he has seen Brown students support each other afterward, just as UNC students did after the campus shooting.

“It's nice to see the community come together,” he said.

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But for many students, including Gandhi's friends, the fear has not diminished.

“They already packed their bags and left,” he said. “People don't feel safe right now.”

Stepheny Price covers crimes, including missing persons, homicides and crimes against migrants. Send story tips to [email protected].