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“We’ve tried to find that balance to both be transparent but be sensitive to the effect the video, audio, and written documents will have on a wound that is still very fresh.”
Lt. Patrick Potter directs officers to escort medical teams into a Brown University building following the fatal shooting in December. City of Providence
The City of Providence released 20 minutes of body camera footage showing the initial police response to the fatal mass shooting at Brown University in December, which claimed two lives.
The video, which included multiple video and audio redactions, was part of a public records request that included the Providence Police Department’s incident report and the Providence Fire Department’s call log.
The video will be the only one released, and Providence police’s investigation into the shooting has been closed, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley and Providence police Col. Oscar Perez said during a press conference Monday.
“(The video) tries to strike a balance to not further traumatize the victims, the families of the victims, the Greater Brown community, and the Greater Providence community,” Smiley said. “We’ve tried to find that balance to both be transparent but be sensitive to the effect the video, audio, and written documents will have on a wound that is still very fresh in this community.”
On Dec. 13, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente entered a Brown University study session in the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building and fired 44 rounds from a 9 mm handgun Saturday. Two students — Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov — were killed, and nine others were injured.
Neves Valente then traveled to Brookline, where he shot and killed 47-year-old MIT Professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro in his Brookline home Dec. 15. He was found dead in a New Hampshire storage unit from a self-inflicted gunshot six days later after recording videos confessing to the murders.
The police incident report released describes speaking to witnesses and victims, one of whom was intubated and unable to speak, the report said. Brown announced in early January that all of the nine injured students had been released from the hospital.
What is in the body cam video?
The video begins at 4:16 p.m. on Dec. 13, 10 minutes after the call was dispatched, Perez said. The video is comprised only of Providence Police Lt. Patrick Potter’s body camera footage, which “provides that most complete, full view,” Smiley said.
“He’s the one moving around the scene, coordinating with other law enforcement officers,” Smiley said. “This video allows us to show the most complete picture, and while of course, trying to continue to strike that balance.”
In the video, Potter is heard speaking to other officers about clearing floors, locating students, searching for the suspect, and getting medical help to victims. He immediately identifies the incident as “an active shooter situation.”
The video is full of black boxes and silence, which are visual and audio redactions involving victims and the crime scene.
Seven minutes into the video, Potter and another officer, with weapons drawn, encounter a man in the building. Potter asks if the man has weapons and if he heard shots. The man was a Brown University maintenance employee, Perez said, who was later ruled out and released.
“We’re looking for the suspect but we’re also looking for additional victims, alright, so take your time,” Potter tells an officer 16 minutes into the video.
A minute later, Potter continues to direct officers to search the building, including directing an armed police escort for medical staff with stretchers.
“Until we get better information, we’re going to run around with our tails and our heads cut off,” Potter said. “As of right now, we have no information as to where this person might be, so we’re going to consider that this is still active.”
The video is in addition to dash camera footage released last month that captured Neves Valente fleeing campus.
“I’m extremely proud of the rapid response of our officers,” Perez said. “As you saw and you heard, the whole department was at Brown University.”
Content warning: This video, redacted by the City of Providence and reviewed by Boston.com, shows distressing content that may be difficult for some.
Molly Farrar is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on education, politics, crime, and more.
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