ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A “Welcome to Minnesota” message played on the video board during a first period break, and Minnesota Wild fans loudly welcomed Quinn Hughes to the self-proclaimed “State of Hockey.”
Hughes did not seem to notice because he had his head turned to the right and was talking defensive strategy with assistant coach Jack Capuano.
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Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber (7) talks with defenseman Quinn Hughes (43) during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)
Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes skates on the ice before an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)
Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes, center, is congratulated after scoring during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)
Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes warms up before an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)
It was almost apropos that Hughes didn’t know which way to look after what could be described as a head-spinning couple of days.
“It’s been a whirlwind for sure. I’m just looking forward to kind of getting my feet on the ground and get with the team here and get in a day-to-day lifestyle here,” he said after scoring once in Sunday’s 6-2 win over Boston. “The last 48 hours have been a lot, but I was excited to go play the game.”
The comments were his first since Hughes was acquired in a blockbuster trade with Vancouver on Friday. The Wild gave up three former first-round picks — Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium and Liam Ohgren — and a 2026 first-round pick to acquire one of the league’s top blueliners.
“It felt a little bit like we had a little more swagger out there today,” goalie Filip Gustavsson said.
Wild coach John Hynes noted Hughes didn’t get as much as a pregame skate before playing for real with his new teammates. Puck drop was 5 p.m. local time.
“Overall, I thought it was exciting to have him, and obviously you see the type of player he is. I think he fits in well with our group and the way that we wanna play,” Hynes said.
Hughes received rousing ovations when he hit the ice for warmups and when he was the last player to leave the frozen surface.
“I wasn’t expecting that. But that was very cool. I know it’s a hockey market but that was exciting,” Hughes said.
“Warm-ups I think was the loudest I’ve ever heard it since I’ve played here,” said Brock Faber, who was paired with Hughes as the Wild’s top defensive pairing. “It doesn’t happen often that a guy like that gets moved, so it was really cool and it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch for our fans.”
There’s been speculation Hughes would like to join in his two younger brothers in New Jersey, when his contract expires after the 2026-27 season.
Hughes remains open minded.
“I’ve only been here four hours but getting to know some of the guys and how energetic and positive guys are and then Minnesota being so close to Michigan and just the State of Hockey and the passion here,” Hughes said, before referencing what general Manager Bill Guerin gave up for him.
“There are other teams that probably could have thrown in certain packages like that, too, but at the end of the day they didn’t want to do that or they didn’t want to trade two or three assets from their team. Billy did, so I’ll remember that.”
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Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber (7) talks with defenseman Quinn Hughes (43) during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)
Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes skates on the ice before an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)
Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes, center, is congratulated after scoring during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)
Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes warms up before an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Officials in Providence say they will release a person of interest detained following a Brown University shooting that killed two students and injured nine.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley and other officials made the disclosure at a hastily convened news conference on Sunday night, more than 12 hours after revealing that they had detained a person in connection with the attack.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A person of interest was in custody Sunday after a shooting during final exams at Brown University that killed two students and wounded nine others, though key questions remained unanswered more than 24 hours after the attack.
The attack Saturday afternoon set off hours of chaos across the Ivy League campus and surrounding Providence neighborhoods as hundreds of officers searched for the shooter and urged students and staff to shelter in place. The lockdown, which stretched into the night, was lifted early Sunday, but authorities had not yet released information about a potential motive.
The person of interest is a 24-year-old man from Wisconsin, according to two people familiar with the matter. The people were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, said Sunday afternoon that no one has been charged yet. Perez, who also said no one else was being sought, declined to say whether the detained person had any connection to Brown.
The person was taken into custody at a Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Providence, where police officers and FBI agents remained Sunday, blocking off a hallway with crime scene tape as they searched the area.
The shooting occurred during one of the busiest moments of the academic calendar, as final exams were underway. Brown canceled all remaining classes, exams, papers and projects for the semester and told students they could leave campus, underscoring the scale of the disruption and the gravity of the attack.
As police scoured the area for the shooter, many students remained barricaded in rooms while others hid behind furniture and bookshelves. One video showed students in a library shaking and wincing as they heard loud bangs just before police entered the room to clear the building.
University President Christina Paxson teared up while describing her conversations with students both on campus and in the hospital.
“They are amazing and they’re supporting each other,” she said at a news conference. “There’s just a lot of gratitude.”
The gunman opened fire inside a classroom in the engineering building, firing more than 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun, a law enforcement official told AP. Two handguns were recovered when the person of interest was taken into custody and authorities also found two loaded 30-round magazines, the official said. One of the firearms was equipped with a laser sight that projects a dot to aid in targeting, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity.
One student of the nine wounded students had been released from the hospital, said Paxson. Seven others were in critical but stable condition, and one was in critical condition.
Durham Academy, a private K-12 school in Durham, North Carolina, confirmed that a recent graduate, Kendall Turner, was critically wounded. The school said her parents were with her.
“Our school community is rallying around Kendall, her classmates, and her loved ones, and we will continue to offer our full support in the days ahead,” the school said.
On Sunday evening, city leaders, residents and others gathered at a park to honor the victims. The event originally was scheduled as a Christmas tree and Hanukkah menorah lighting.
“For those who know at least bit of the Hanukkah story, it is quite clear that if we can come together as a community to shine a little bit of light tonight, there’s nothing better that we can be doing,” Mayor Brett Smiley said at a news conference earlier in the day.
Smiley said he visited some wounded students and was inspired by their courage, hope and gratitude. One told him that active shooting drills done in high school proved helpful.
“The resilience that these survivors showed and shared with me, is frankly pretty overwhelming,” he said.
Investigators were not immediately sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom at the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department. The building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices, according to the university’s website.
Engineering design exams were underway. Outer doors of the building were unlocked but rooms being used for final exams required badge access, Smiley said.
Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops. Once she realized they were gunshots, she darted for the door and into a nearby building where she waited for hours.
Surveillance video released by police showed a suspect, dressed in black, walking from the scene.
Eva Erickson, a doctoral candidate who was the runner-up earlier this year on the CBS reality competition show “Survivor,” said she left her lab in the engineering building 15 minutes before shots rang out.
The engineering and thermal science student shared candid moments on “Survivor” as the show’s first openly autistic contestant. She was locked down in the campus gym following the shooting and shared on social media that the only other member of her lab who was present was safely evacuated.
Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside.
“I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as officers surrounded his dorm.
Brown, the seventh-oldest higher education institution in the U.S., is one of the nation’s most prestigious colleges, with roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students.
Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Contributing were Associated Press journalists Jennifer McDermott in Providence; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and Alanna Durkin Richer, Mike Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington, D.C.
Passers-by walk past crime scene tape at an entrance to Brown University, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Providence, R.I., following the Saturday, Dec. 13, shooting at the university. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
A bouquet of flowers rests on snow, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, on the campus of Brown University not far from where a shooting took place, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
A pedestrian walks across the intersection of Waterman St. and Hope St. Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, after a shooting on Saturday in Providence, R.I. (Lily Speredelozzi/The Sun Chronicle via AP)
Pedestrians walk past and glance at the scene of a shooting at Brown University Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, after a shooting on Saturday in Providence, R.I. (Lily Speredelozzi/The Sun Chronicle via AP)
Police caution tape lays askew at Brown University's Ittleson Quad Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, after a shooting on Saturday in Providence, R.I. (Lily Speredelozzi/The Sun Chronicle via AP)
Police tape off hotel rooms where the person of interest was arrested in a shooting in Coventry, RI., (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)
Police tape off hotel rooms where the person of interest was arrested in a shooting in Coventry, RI., (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)
A police officer hangs yellow crime tape 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)
Police vehicles rest in intersections in a neighborhood near Brown University, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Providence, R.I., following a shooting at the university Saturday, Dec. 13. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
A police vehicle rests at an intersection near crime scene tape at Brown University, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Providence, R.I., following a Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025 shooting at the university. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Mayor Brett Smiley speaks to reporters during a Brown University news conference, in Providence, R. I., Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)
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)
Brown University President Christina H. Paxson attends a news conference addressing the investigation following a shooting on Brown University's campus Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (Lily Speredelozzi/The Sun Chronicle via AP)
Students are escorted by law enforcement officers to a building at Brown University after a shooting, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I.. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
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)
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)
