(Photo by NY Post)
Brown University President Christina Paxson has placed the school’s campus police chief on leave as the university reviews its security policies following a deadly shooting that killed two students and injured nine others earlier this month.
The decision comes amid growing scrutiny over Brown’s campus safety measures after the Dec. 13 attack that shocked the Providence community and triggered a multi-state manhunt. Paxson announced Monday that campus police chief Rodney Chatman will be replaced on an interim basis by Hugh T. Clements, the former chief of the Providence Police Department.
Questions have mounted over whether the academic building where the shooting occurred was equipped with security cameras and how easily the gunman was able to access campus facilities. Chatman’s leadership had already been under fire. In October, the union representing Brown’s police officers issued a vote of no confidence, citing “serious concerns over the failed leadership, contract violations, and policies that jeopardize public safety,” according to local media reports.
The heightened attention has prompted a federal response. The U.S. Department of Education confirmed Monday that it has opened an investigation into whether Brown complied with federal campus safety and security requirements. Officials are requesting detailed information, including security reports, audits, dispatch and call logs, and records showing when emergency alerts were issued.
The shooting unfolded during a study session on Dec. 13, when authorities say gunman Claudio Neves Valente, 48, entered a Brown academic building and opened fire. Sophomore Ella Cook and freshman MukhammadAziz Umurzokov were killed. Nine other students were wounded.
Investigators later linked Neves Valente to a second killing. Two days after the Brown shooting, authorities say he fatally shot Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, at Loureiro’s home outside Boston. Neves Valente had previously studied physics at Brown during the 2000–01 academic year and attended school with Loureiro in Portugal in the 1990s.
Days later, Neves Valente was found dead inside a storage facility in New Hampshire. Authorities say he died by suicide. An autopsy determined he died on Dec. 16, the same day Loureiro died in a hospital, according to a timeline published in the student newspaper.
As the investigation continues, the focus has also turned to mourning the victims. Hundreds gathered Monday at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, to honor Ella Cook, who was raised in the nearby suburb of Mountain Brook. Her family asked mourners to wear “Easter colors,” reflecting her Christian faith, during an Episcopal funeral service that also acknowledged the Christmas season.
The Rev. Paul F.M. Zahl read letters from members of the Brown community addressed to Cook’s parents, Anna Bishop Cook and Richard Cook. One letter from Brown political economy professor David Skarbek described Cook as “smart, confident, curious, kind, principled, brave.”
He wrote, “She had a big impact on campus in only three semesters,” adding that her campus nickname was “Ellabama.” Zahl told the congregation the service was “a kind of bigger stage, a kind of more amplified mic” for Cook’s faith. He shared a dream he said symbolized her spirit. “Ella turned around and shouted confidently, self-assuredly, ‘Come on, will you?’” He recalled, according to The Hill.
“I pray now that everyone who has loved Ella so much in this life would be given a vivid, individual feeling of Ella’s love, still present with us,” Zahl said. “Because Ella’s love is eternal and entirely altruistic.”
Cook was an accomplished pianist and was studying French, math, and economics at Brown. She also served as vice president of the College Republicans. Kay Ivey ordered flags across Alabama to be flown at half-staff in her memory. As Brown faces federal review and internal reckoning, the tragedy continues to reverberate across campuses and communities far beyond Providence.
