Elite Ivy League campus latest to grapple with mass shooting as violence erupts at Brown University

Brown University became the latest campus responding to a mass shooting when at least two people were killed and eight others were wounded Saturday during finals week at the elite Rhode Island Ivy League institution.

A shelter-in-place order was issued and streets were blocked off in response to the shooting as police continue to search for a male suspect.

“This is a deeply tragic day for Brown, our families and our local community. There are truly no words that can express the deep sorrow we are feeling for the victims of the shooting that took place today at the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building,” Brown University President Christina H. Paxson said in a message to the campus community.

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“This is a day that we hoped never would come to our community. It is deeply devastating for all of us. We are grateful to law enforcement for their immediate response and their ongoing work to ensure the safety of our community. Please continue to take all steps to be safe,” the message added.

Rhode Island Hospital is in lockdown but is still accepting emergency department patients.

President Donald Trump said he has been briefed on the shooting.

“What a terrible thing it is,” the president said. “All we can do right now is pray for the victims and for those that were very badly hurt, it looks like. … We’ll inform you later as to what’s happening, but it’s a shame. Let’s just pray.”

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Brown University, an Ivy League school founded in 1764, is a leading nonprofit research university in Providence, Rhode Island.

The institution has more than 11,000 students and 5,500 employees, including close to 900 regular faculty.

Brown University’s endowment is $8 billion, making it among the wealthiest institutions in the country.

The shooting Saturday was just the most recent shooting on a U.S. college campus.

A junior Brown University student told Fox News Digital he was barricaded in a university building during the shooting, called 911 and waited nearly two hours before police arrived.

“They brought us down into a basement office space with a few hundred people and have been sweeping the building getting groups of people as they call 911 and inform them of their location,” the student said. “We’re hearing pretty daunting numbers, and people are all checking in on their friends.”

On Tuesday, a shooting at Kentucky State University killed one student and critically injured another.

There were also other shootings on college campuses earlier this year, including the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a September event at Utah Valley University and a shooting at Florida State University in April in which two people were killed and seven were wounded.