Officials give update on Brown shooting manhunt

You have been watching a press conference out of Providence, Rhode Island, with the mayor of Providence, officials from Brown University, as well law enforcement giving an update on this manhunt for the person or persons of interest involved in that shooting on Brown University's campus on Saturday that left two people dead. I want to bring in CBS News legal reporter Katrina Kaufman, who's live for us in Providence, Rhode Island, outside a memorial for the two victims who died and, of course, all the people that are still in the hospital. Katrina, the biggest part of that news conference has stood out to me was the search for another person who they want to talk to because they believe that individual may have been in close proximity or in the same vicinity as the other person that they are looking to speak with. And it was interesting. They were careful not to call that person a suspect. They simply released this person's photo, in hopes of somebody may recognize them so that law enforcement can talk to them. Can you go into a little bit about what that was and what these two different pieces of new surveillance photos show?

Absolutely. So we've seen these new images today of a person. They're wearing a hood. They've released an enhanced image, where you can see their face more. And as you mentioned, they say this is someone who was in the same vicinity as the person of interest. They're being very specific that this is not currently any form of suspect, but they say it's someone that they want to talk to, that they believe may have some sort of information about the person that they are looking for, who may have potentially committed this crime. I will say, the other thing that really stood out to me was a small bit of good news, which is that one of the students has been discharged from the hospital who was injured in this shooting. That means two students have now been discharged. There is one or a number who still remain in critical but stable condition, one critical. These kids are improving, so at least that is some good news that we're starting to hear. Something else that I thought was interesting is they're being very careful about what details they release. And they were explaining that it's because when these eyewitnesses come in to be interviewed, they don't want their memories to be changed by what they're hearing in the press. They want to make sure that it's what happened in that day. There was a lot going on. There's probably a lot that they have to pull from their memories right now. And they want to make sure that all of this isn't being written about in the media. So they say they're being very careful about the details that they're sharing with us so that it doesn't in any way impair their investigation.

Yeah, it's interesting. They talked about the misinformation that was out there, also doxing incidents, in which they're identifying people that have nothing to do with this incident. And as the investigation continues, as the manhunt continues five more days, that gives more time for all this information that's not factual to get out there in the internet. All right. Katrina Kaufman, thank you so much. I want to bring in Anna Schechter, the senior coordinating producer for our Crime and Public Safety Unit. Anna, you've been following this case since the start. I want to start with that press conference. What stood out to you? Well, what stood out to me is that they still have so little to go on. They did release new images of a person that they said was in proximity with the person of interest that they released video of yesterday. So they think that this person might have encountered that individual. But it's not a lot of information to go on. They are very early in the investigative process, now five days later. They don't have any great leads. They don't have the identification of either the person of interest or this individual that you see there on your screen who they want to talk to. They're essentially asking that person to come forward. They're asking anyone who knows that person to come forward because they want to talk to them. They think they might have some information. Now, on some of the surveillance video, there is one clip where you see the person police have identified as the person of interest walking, and it's almost like they're walking on a sidewalk and somebody else is coming around a corner. And then the person of interest takes off running. So my question is, is the person who might have encountered the person of interest the one that they want to talk to? A lot of questions, very few answers. As Katrina mentioned, there was some good news about the survivors, which is great. The other thing that stood out to me is you had the police chief talking about how they got this roster from Brown as to who was in that study hall classroom inside the room where the shooter opened fire. It sounds like they haven't even completed the task of interviewing everyone who was in that room, which to me really jumps out because we are five days into this investigation. You see there the map. It's a large area. And one reporter in the room asked a smart question, why is there so much space to the south of the university? What makes them think that is where people should be searching their surveillance cameras? What about further north or further west? And they didn't seem to have a very clear answer about that. But they did say that within that blue square there that you see on your screen, they are asking residents and businesses to look through all surveillance video during this window of time and contact police.

I hope I heard this right. I believe the police chief was also asked if they were using facial recognition technology, and he said that they weren't. Does that surprise you, given that they're calling this the most intense investigation in the nation? Don't you think that they would be using every tool at their disposal that exists to look for these people? This is a great question, Liz, and it's a great opportunity to remind our viewers that technology does not solve all problems. So when you have a very grainy photo like that, I want to remind everybody back to Luigi Mangione when they had that photo. When he pulled down his mask inside the hospital, that was the first image that was released where you saw his face. And guess what? The NYPD, which has some of the most advanced technology in the nation and in the world, they ran that image through facial recognition software, and there was no match because it was the angle. It was the graininess of the footage. So it actually doesn't surprise me because of the quality of these images is very low. I'm hoping a Tesla was parked nearby because some Teslas, if you have the car in a specific mode, there's an HD camera rolling, and you would have a much higher resolution image. The images that we are working with at this point are not great, Liz. And that's a major challenge here.

Yeah, I'm curious, Anna, too, because right after the shooting-- I believe it was on Sunday-- they were speaking to somebody who they thought initially was a suspect, and that person ended up not being involved at all and they were released. I'm curious if that error in their investigation in the beginning slowed down the process, and it's one of the reasons why we're on day five and still very little information. 100%, Liz. That's a terrific point because those early hours are crucial. That's right when the perpetrator is fleeing. And so when you take the wind out of the sails of that investigation, where you're casing the area and you're focusing on doing a background check on the person that you're sitting there with-- you've gone. You've arrested that individual. You've pulled him into a room and you're questioning that person. That's a lot of resources and time wasted. And it means that you're not doing the other investigative work with all of those resources. Now, to me, my instinct is it would have been better to have a flood of resources, more resources very early on Saturday, early evening and all through Saturday night, casing the area instead of focusing on that individual. Of course, hindsight is 20/20. But that certainly slowed things down. Anna Schechter, always great to get your insight on cases like this. I know we're going to stay on top of it, and I'll look forward to talking to you when we have another update. Thank you so much.