New images of Brown shooting person of interest

Thank you, Colonel. The last speaker today will be special agent in charge from the FBI, Ted Docks. Well, thank you, Mayor, and good evening, everyone. My name is Ted Docks. I'm the special agent in charge of FBI Boston. We know there's a lot of public concern about the horrific mass shooting at Brown University on Saturday, and rightfully so. I can assure you that law-enforcement teams standing before you today has been working around the clock, 24/7, to ensure justice is fully served. While we mourn the devastating loss of the victims and those who are critically injured, the FBI and its partners are dedicated to honoring their memory through a meticulous investigation. Tonight, as Colonel Perez stated, we are renewing our call for the public's assistance in seeking any and all information about the shooter. No amount of information is too small or irrelevant. We are also here to announce the FBI is now offering a reward of $50,000 for information that can lead to the identification, the arrest, and the conviction of the individual responsible, who we believe to be armed and dangerous. We're asking everyone in Rhode Island and beyond to review the new images of the suspect, share them on social media, and come forward if you have any information. You can contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or the tips provided by the police department at 401-272-3121, or you can also provide tips electronically and submit it to tips.fbi.gov. We're also doubling down on our efforts to obtain images and video of the shooter. Those can be submitted online at fbi.gov/BrownUniversityShooting. Our agents and analysts are fully embedded with our law-enforcement partners, including the Providence and Rhode Island State Police We are tracking down leads, canvassing neighborhoods, and developing intelligence. And right now, our evidence-response teams remain on campus processing the scene. And folks from our lab from Quantico are documenting the trajectories of the bullets to reconstruct the scene. It's painstaking work, and we are asking the public to be patient as we continue to run down every lead so we can get victims, survivors and their families, and all of you the answers you deserve. Thank you.

Mayor can you tell Chief Oscar to say a statement in Spanish, please, for Spanish media? Yes. Colonel? [SPEAKING SPANISH] [OVERLAPPING SPEECH] Dan, go ahead.

Mayor, Dan Jaehnig from NBC 10. I just want to ask a question. These videos and images were actually very good that you just showed. They were from the day before. And I'm just wondering, why didn't we release these a little bit earlier? Did you just get them today? And can you explain-- because that's going to be a question from viewers. Of course, and that's a great question, Dan. And I'll tell you that it takes time. I've mentioned it before that investigations are very complex. And when you're doing canvassing areas or when you're developing evidence, sometimes you get directed to another direction, and then that's what makes you go back to certain areas and continue to investigate. Here we are, the 49th hour, but I've got to commend the dedication and professionalism of all of us that I mentioned earlier because it's that passion to bring someone to justice that led us to get this info that we got today to be able to provide to you. [OVERLAPPING SPEECH] Go ahead, CNN. [OVERLAPPING SPEECH] One second.

With these images and videos, are you all going to distribute them to the media? Can we distribute them? 100.

And then you are. Yes.

Mr. Attorney General, yesterday, you made it clear we didn't have an image of this person's face. Now these images show we do have this person's face. Is this going to be key in solving this case, which you seem very dedicated in doing? Yeah, look, I think, as I've said multiple times today, that these investigations are like threads that you pull on a garment. And some of them you pull, and the garment doesn't open up. And other ones you pull, and the garment comes undone. I think when you go out and get a better image of the person's face, that can only help the public help us identify this person and confirm that they're the right person when that time comes. The prosecutors today have been working with the law-enforcement agents and police officers to advance this investigation. And I would describe today's work as making steady progress to identifying the person that we saw in the video that was released yesterday. And the sooner we can identify that person, the sooner we can, I think, blow this case open. But that's work that has to happen in the next 24 to 36 hours.

What led you to believe that there was no further threat to the community today? You mentioned yesterday that there was no additional evidence. Can you just expand upon that to-- Yeah, it's the same as yesterday, which is ever since 4:05 on Saturday, which was when the first call came into Brown, there has been no new, credible, specific threat anywhere in the Providence community having anything--

With respect, there was no threats made prior to the shooting. So how can people feel safe with that information? The way in which we are trying to reassure our residents is through a noted, visible police presence throughout the community. It is going to be hard for my city to feel safe going forward. This has shaken us. That will be true tomorrow. I suspect that will be true the day after the general convicts someone. This is a process to restore a sense of safety. But we're going to take those a step at a time, and the first step in what we're trying to provide today-- and which we did well with the assistance of our neighbors, and we're grateful for it-- is a noted, visible police presence to provide some confidence for families that are taking their kids to school, people who have to get to work to work a shift. I spent lunchtime today walking down Thayer Street. And for our guests, Thayer Street is the commercial district right adjacent to campus. And I talked to one of the women at Antonio's, which some of you know is a pizza by the slice joint. And she said, I didn't want to come to work today, but I needed to. I needed to work. I needed to take the shift. And that's a very real thing happening in our community right now. But she noticed and she appreciated the fact that there were patrolmen walking up and down Thayer Street and made her feel a little bit better. And when she comes to work tomorrow, I hope she feels a little bit better after that. That's where we are right now in terms of restoring a sense of safety to the community, and that's what we're going to continue to try to do. [OVERLAPPING SPEECH] Bill, go ahead.

Mayor, two questions to that point. A lot of people scared right now. A lot of people confused right now in the city. Can you speak to them directly, summarizing what you just said or any other thoughts from the heart, your take right now. Is Providence safe? Yeah, Providence remains a very safe city, and Providence receives, really, the best law enforcement, I believe, in the country. And today, especially at this moment, it's being augmented by great professionals of other Rhode Islanders, state police, and others and our federal partners. But my sense of the community right now is that this is starting to get very real and very personal, and I heard that today. I heard that last night at the vigil. We're all two degrees of separation from one another, and now people are starting to share stories with one another of, oh, my neighbor was nearby and, oh, my friend's kid was supposed to go to that review session but didn't. I'm starting to hear those stories, and I think all the Rhode Islanders in the room are starting to hear those stories. I heard that story again today with one of our customers is one of the teachers. And so it's starting to get very personal for our community, which is hard. And that's, I think, where we are sort of emotionally in the process. But we're here from one another. That's the scary side. The upside is that this is a tight-knit community that looks out for one another. The governor was there. All the officials who are up here with me tonight were with us at Lippitt Park last night. It was 10 degrees. It was loosely organized. And yet hundreds of people came out because they wanted to be with one another. They were hugging their neighbors. They were crying, and they were offering each other support. So this community will heal from this. We will move forward. But that doesn't make light of-- and I'm certainly not making light of the fear and anxiety that persists. But the only way we're going to move forward through it is one step at a time, and today is one of those steps. [OVERLAPPING SPEECH] Go ahead.

From the Journal. Do you have any idea what kind of firearm was used in this shooting? And do you know how many rounds were fired? Do you have any details of that [INDISTINCT]? There were several rounds. It was a small caliber. Actually, 9-millimeter firearm was used, and it was several rounds into it. And, obviously, as we all know, the casualties and the injured people. It's just terrible. So yes.

Colonel, I have two questions. Who's the lead investigator on this now? And secondly, what do you believe that a person of interest was doing in that video and those pictures that you obtained? Yeah so the first question, the lead is, obviously, we're taking the lead, but we couldn't do this job without the assistance, as I mentioned, in collaboration of all the different agencies and municipalities. This is a team effort. This is important to us. The mayor stated it has shocked the city, and a lot of people are concerned. So this is an effort to put handcuffs on somebody, and it takes a whole team to do that.

My second question is, what do you think he was doing? Was he staking out the area? Because this was the day before the shootings, correct? Correct. And so--

[INDISTINCT] day before [INDISTINCT]. Was it hours before or days before? So it was a few hours before, and I'll tell you that, at this point, that's all we have. So it was a few hours before. What he was doing, we'll be able to find out once we continue to investigate. Go ahead. [OVERLAPPING SPEECH] Go ahead, John. Go ahead John.

John DePetro [INDISTINCT]. Can you talk about, is it unusual to change the direction of an investigation as it's going on? That's a great question, John. I think that all detectives throughout this nation and in the world understand that when you're investigating a case, it takes different paths. You start somewhere. You start here, and all of a sudden, something else pops off, and you're going in a different direction. And that's what happens. It's complex. And at the end of the day, you have to investigate. You have to pull every rock. You have to look at every video. You have to examine evidence. You have to check ballistics. It just takes a lot of work. You have to interview witnesses. And sometimes that takes you to a whole different path. And as a police officer and a detective, you have to make sure that you don't get into that tunnel vision in order to be able to [INDISTINCT] right answer. So yeah, they do change. Go ahead, Steph. [OVERLAPPING SPEECH] Go ahead, Steph.

[INDISTINCT] the more time passes, it will be harder to make an arrest? I tell you, every minute--

[INDISTINCT] couple days? Every minute counts. Every minute counts. But what doesn't stop is the dedication and professionalism of this department, as well as our partners. [OVERLAPPING SPEECH]

Steph. Steph Steph.

Do you believe that any of the victims, whether the victims who died or the others, were targeted by the shooter or that he was just shooting randomly, indiscriminately? That's all part of the investigation, Steph, yeah. So we'll continue to investigate further.

And can you also [INDISTINCT]? Can you also explain, the FBI today was searching in the bushes and kicking around the snow or moving the snow on Waterman Street. We have known since Saturday that the potential suspect walked down Waterman Street. It was in the first video. Why would you be now looking in the bushes for something on Waterman Street two days later after it had snowed? So I just answered John the same question of how investigations, they turn and lead you in a different direction. We might have used all our energies in the first few days to investigate something, and here we are now heading back to that same place to continue to investigate. And that's why you saw that because the investigations change on a daily basis.

Tom.

Of the 911 call or emergency calls that came in, when the first 911 calls come in, were those dispatched by Brown University police or Providence police? It was dispatched by the 911 center. And yes, we responded immediately. Within minutes, you saw the Providence police cruiser pulling up.

So Providence has been [INDISTINCT] investigator on this from [INDISTINCT]? That's correct.

Patrick. Patrick.

Have you received any leads or indication on whether this was personally motivated, political, or otherwise? Are there any threats to Brown that they've turned over that would give us an indication of why this might have happened? It's a great question, and that's something that we're all asking ourselves, and we'll continue to investigate to be able to get that in.

Colonel? In front here.

Do you have reason to believe that this person is no longer in the community? Continue to try to reassure the public that they are safe, but you also just said that this person you believe is armed and dangerous. So how can those be true? Well, yeah. Right. And that's something that's unknown, but like the mayor stated, I'll tell you that we have enhanced enforcement in that area. We have-- Steph stated earlier, we have a lot of officers in the area. So in that sense, it's going to be safe. But however as well, I just want to remind the community that our priority in law enforcement and in the city is to keep our constituents safe, keep them informed, and to keep them committed to understand that we're professional. We're dedicated. We're going to put somebody in handcuffs, and we're going to continue to do this job. So I want to know--

Do you have reason believe that they are no longer in this community? That's something that we're continuing to investigate.

Tom.

Real quick.

Tom.

Tom Quinlan, WPRO. On the trajectory of where this guy went from the videos that you saw, where is the last place that you have clear video of seeing him? Is it like you're still getting video from the houses in that area? And Colonel Weaver, just real quick, in terms of the state's response, how much enforced patrol-- we know about the enforced patrol in Providence, but are putting throughout the state to keep the highways-- keep an eye on the highways? We have increased our patrols throughout the state, and we will respond accordingly to any requests for additional assistance. This is a collaborative effort, not only from our uniform division but also our detective bureau is embedded here with Providence and our federal partners, and we will not stop until we find out who the suspect is and bring them to justice. [OVERLAPPING SPEECH] I just want to clarify-- I want to clarify something because it seems that we're a little confused as far as the video itself. It says 2:00 PM. It was the day of two hours prior. So 2:00 PM. [OVERLAPPING SPEECH] Yes, let me just finish with the-- yeah, go ahead.

Thanks, [INDISTINCT]. Where's the last video that you actually have video from in that area? It's in that vicinity of Hope Street between Benevolent and Manning Street.

And that's before the shooting? That's correct, yes.

Two hours, right? Yeah, two hours prior. Yes.

My turn. My turn. My turn.

Dan, go ahead. Relax.

This video that you just released, more than anything, is key to wrapping to this case, OK? We have a closer picture of his face. We have a closer picture of his body. Based on that and witness interviews, do you have a new description of the person of interest now? Because he looked like a guy just walking around the neighborhood. Is there a new description you can give us so far? There is, and it will be on that poster that we're going to be releasing on the images. And the height, weight, and things of that nature are all posted on that post.

Do you think he lives in the are? It's something that we're investigating, Dan.

Other [INDISTINCT] instances. Damon.

[SPEAKING SPANISH] So the gentleman just asked the question about how information is getting filtered into the community and out from us. And the question was that the past few days, an individual was identified and was detained, and it was a person of interest. We had him here. He's asking, how does that get out to the media? How does that happen? My answer to that is I have no control over what's being released or circulating in the media, speculations that occur. What we can control is what we give you here. And as I was speaking earlier, that's why it's important for you to get the information from us. [SPEAKING SPANISH] He also asked a second question that he asked was that there was information out there that we had a person in custody.

The voice you've been listening to primarily, Colonel Oscar Perez, Jr., chief of the Providence, Rhode Island, Police Department. He is speaking in Spanish there. A quick check of my notes, 42% to 43% of Providence, Rhode Island, Hispanic. So quite understandably, questions from the Hispanic community about safety writ large and the Anglo community in Providence, Rhode Island. Just to summarize some of the things that came from that. New video has just been released by authorities of the gunman involved in the mass shooting at Brown University campus. You see the gunman there. These are the newest images taken two hours prior to the shooting on Saturday, which occurred-- the first reports came in at 4:05 PM from the Brown University campus. The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for evidence and information about that suspect that leads to a prosecution and conviction. The governor said there are many threads of this investigation. Other authorities described it as active and complex. There is an imperative, state, local, and federal, for the public, upon viewing this new material, to provide tips to bring them closer to this gunman because clearly, if you sift through everything you heard from the authorities, they are not there yet. They are certainly attempting and working on the 49th hour, in the chief's terminology, but they're not there in terms of finding someone, arresting someone, charging someone. The Providence mayor, Mayor Brett Smiley, said, "This has shaken us," meaning the community of Providence, Rhode Island.