A list of deadly shootings on college campuses in the US

A shooting Saturday at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, left two people dead and at least eight other critically injured. Authorities were still searching for a suspect in the hours afterward.

The shooting occurred on a Saturday afternoon in a campus building with final exams underway. The suspect was dressed in black and left the building on foot, officials said.

The violence prompted a shelter-in-place order for the larger university area. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said “we have all available resources” to find the suspect.

“Sadly, today is a day that the city of Providence and the state of Rhode Island prayed would never come,” the mayor said. “We've heard about horrific acts of gun violence and active shooter situations in other places, but not here.”

Brown is a private institution with roughly 7,300 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate students.

Here is a look at other deadly shootings on U.S. college campuses in recent decades:

KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY: December 2025, 1 dead

A shooting at a residence hall at the public historically Black university left one student dead and another critically injured. The suspect, who is a parent of a student, faces murder and assault charges.

UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY: September 2025, 1 dead

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking on campus during one of his political events, sending hundreds of people running. A 22-year-old suspect faces aggravated murder in connection with Kirk's death. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY: April 2025, 2 dead

Two died and six were wounded in a shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee. A 21-year-old man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted first-degree murder in connection with the shooting.

UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS: December 2023, 3 dead

A 67-year-old former business professor, whose applications to teach at UNLV had been rejected, opened fire in the building housing the university's business school, killing three professors and badly wounding a fourth. The gunman was killed in a shootout with police outside the building.

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: February 2023, 3 dead

A 43-year-old gunman fired inside an academic building and the student union, killing three students and injuring five others. He later killed himself miles away from the campus in East Lansing while being confronted by police.

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: November 2022, 3 dead

A student and former member of the school’s football team fatally shot three current players aboard a charter bus as they returned from a field trip, setting off panic and a 12-hour lockdown of the campus until the suspect was captured. Two other students were also wounded on the campus. The shooter has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges and is awaiting sentencing.

NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY: October 2015, 1 dead

Just weeks into his freshman year, a student walked onto the campus in Flagstaff and opened fire. One student was killed and three others were wounded in the first deadly shooting since the university was founded in 1899. The shooter later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault and was sentenced to six years in prison.

UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE: October 2015, 9 dead

A 26-year-old man opened fire on his writing class, killing his instructor and eight other people at the school in rural Roseburg, Oregon. Nine more people were also wounded. The shooter then killed himself.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA: May 2014, 6 dead

A 22-year-old college student frustrated over sexual rejections fatally stabbed or shot six students near the school in Isla Vista, California, and injured several others before he killed himself.

SANTA MONICA COLLEGE: June 2013, 6 dead

A deadly act of domestic violence at home turned public when a 23-year-old man left after killing his father and older brother, carjacked a woman and shot at other vehicles. He then entered the campus where he had previously been enrolled as a student and opened fire, killing four more people before he was fatally shot by police in the school's library.

OIKOS UNIVERSITY: April 2012, 7 dead

A former nursing student fatally shot seven people at the small private college in East Oakland, California. He was given seven consecutive life sentences and died in prison in 2019.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY: February 2008, 5 dead

A 27-year-old former student shot and killed five people and wounded more than 20 others at the school in DeKalb, Illinois, before killing himself.

VIRGINIA TECH: April 2007, 32 dead

In the deadliest shooting at a U.S. college, a 23-year-old student killed 32 people on the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. More than two dozen others were wounded. The gunman then killed himself.

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: November 1991, 5 dead

A former graduate student upset that his doctoral dissertation wasn't nominated for an academic award fatally shot himself after killing five people and injuring one other person in a shooting spree on the campus in Iowa City.

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: August 1966, 13 dead

A Marine-trained sniper opened fire from atop the 27-story clock tower in the heart of the university's flagship Austin campus in one of the nation's first mass shootings. He killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others before authorities shot and killed him.

FILE - Students and activists rally for gun control policies outside of Florida's historic old capitol on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 in Tallahassee, Fla., less than a week after a deadly shooting at Florida State University. (AP Photo/Kate Payne, File)

FILE - University of Virginia President Jim Ryan speaks during a memorial service for three slain University of Virginia football players Lavel Davis Jr., D'Sean Perry and Devin Chandler at John Paul Jones Arena at the school in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, Pool, File)

FILE - Law enforcement responds to a shooting at Whitney Moore Young Jr. Hall on Kentucky State University's campus in Frankfort, Ky., Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (Hannah Brown/The State Journal via AP, File)

FILE - Utah Valley University students Zach Zimmerman, second from left, and Lauren Simons embrace during a vigil for Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA who was shot and killed, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Orem, Utah. Zimmerman witnessed the shooting. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)

FILE - Law enforcement officers head into the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, campus after reports of an active shooter, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP, File)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded eight others at Brown University on Saturday during final exams on the Ivy League campus, authorities said, as police searched for the suspect.

Officers were hunting through campus buildings and sifting through trash cans more than three hours after the shooting erupted.

The suspect was a male in dark clothing who was last seen leaving an engineering building where the attack happened, said Timothy O’Hara, Deputy Chief of Police.

Mayor Brett Smiley said a shelter-in-place was in effect for the area and encouraged people living near the campus to stay inside and not to return home until it is lifted.

“We have all available resources” to find the suspect, Smiley said.

The site of the shooting sits on the edge of campus alongside a neighborhood filled with stately brick homes.

Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the engineering building’s lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops coming from the east side.

Once she realized they were gunshots, she darted for the door and ran to a nearby building where she was waited for a couple o fhours.

Eight people with gunshot wounds were taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where six were in critical but stable condition, according to Kelly Brennan, a spokesperson for the hospital. Another was in critical condition and one was stable, she said.

University officials initially told students and staff that a suspect was in custody, before later saying that was not the case and that police were still searching for a suspect or suspects, according to alerts issued through Brown’s emergency notification system.

The mayor said a person preliminarily thought to be involved was detained but was later determined to have no involvement.

“We’re still getting information about what’s going on, but we’re just telling people to lock their doors and to stay vigilant,” said Providence Councilmember John Goncalves, whose ward includes the Brown campus. “As a Brown alum, someone who loves the Brown community and represents this area, I’m heartbroken. My heart goes out to all the family members and the folks who’ve been impacted.”

The shooting occurred in the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department. According to the university’s website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices.

Engineering design exams were underway there when the shooting occurred.

Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm directly across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside and received a text about an active shooter shortly after 4 p.m.

“I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as a half-dozen armed officers in tactical gear surrounded his dorm. He said he feared for a friend who he thought was inside the engineering building at the time.

Students in a nearby lab hid under desks and turned off the lights after receiving an alert about the shooting, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering who was about a block away from the scene.

Mari Camara, 20, a junior from New York City, was coming out of the library and rushed inside a taqueria to seek shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting friends while police searched the campus.

“Everyone is the same as me, shocked and terrified that something like this happened,” she said.

President Donald Trump told reporters that he had been briefed on the shooting and “all we can do right now is pray for the victims.”

“It’s a shame,” he said in brief remarks at the White House.

The FBI said it was assisting in the response.

Brown, one of the nation's most prestigious colleges, has roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students.

Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Mike Balsamo and Seung Min Kim in Washington; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

A law enforcement official walks past articles of clothing on a sidewalk near an entrance to Brown University, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I., during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Law enforcement officials carry rifles while walking on a street in a neighborhood near Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025 during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Law enforcement officials walk near an entrance to Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Emergency personnel gather on Waterman Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

Emergency personnel gather on Waterman Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

Law enforcement officials carrying weapons gather near Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Ambulances line Hope Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

Emergency personnel gather at Hope and Waterman Streets at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

Ambulances line Hope Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

Emergency personnel gather at Hope and Waterman Streets at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

In this image from video, law enforcement officials gather outside the Brown University campus in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)

FILE - The logo for Brown University is displayed at the school's campus in Providence, R.I., on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)