PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Brown University is accused in lawsuits from three students who were injured in the Dec. 13 campus shooting that the Ivy League school ignored prior warnings about the shooter and did not provide adequate security that could have prevented the tragedy.
The lawsuits, which were filed last week in Rhode Island Superior Court, allege that the unnamed plaintiffs have suffered because Brown failed to maintain “reasonable and appropriate security measures.”
“As direct and proximate result of Brown’s aforementioned acts of negligence, Plaintiff suffered and became afflicted with grave and severe personal injuries, causing Plaintiff to suffer great pain of body, mind, nerves and nervous system,” one of the lawsuits states.
The plaintiffs behind the lawsuits are unnamed.
A spokesperson for Brown University said they were reviewing the complaints “carefully and promptly.”
“Out of respect for the privacy interests of the plaintiffs, we have no details to share on the merits of the litigation at this time,” spokesperson Brian Clark said in a statement.
According to law enforcement, gunman Claudio Neves Valente, 48, entered a study session in a Brown academic building on Dec. 13 and opened fire on students, killing 19-year-old sophomore Ella Cook and 18-year-old freshman MukhammadAziz Umurzokov and wounding nine others.
Two days later, authorities say, Neves Valente, who had been a graduate student at Brown studying physics about 20 years ago, also fatally shot Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro at Loureiro’s Boston-area home.
Neves Valente, who had attended school with Loureiro in Portugal in the 1990s, was found dead days later at a New Hampshire storage facility. Authorities say he killed himself. An autopsy determined that Neves Valente died Dec. 16, the same day Loureiro died in a hospital.
The lawsuits claim that Brown's campus security was alerted by a custodian that Neves Valente had been “casing” the building but the school did not investigate the reports.
Shortly after the shooting, Brown's president placed the campus police on leave amid a review of the school's security policies.
Much of the focus has centered on whether the Ivy League school had security cameras installed in the building where the attack took place in and the overall ease of accessing campus buildings.
FILE - The U.S. flag flies at half-staff on the Main Green in honor of the victims of the campus shooting at Brown University, Dec. 17, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
FILE - Photos of Brown University shooting victims Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, left, and Ella Cook, are seen amongst flowers at a makeshift memorial at the school's Van Wickle Gate, Dec. 17, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department said Tuesday that it is preparing a limited release of commemorative U.S. passports celebrating America’s 250th birthday that feature a picture of President Donald Trump, who would be the first living president to be featured in the travel document.
The concept for the special passport, including a rendering of Trump’s stern-looking visage, had been under consideration for months before finally being approved late Monday. Between 25,000 and 30,000 of the new passports will be available to applicants at the Washington, D.C., passport office beginning shortly before July 4.
It’s the latest instance of Trump having his name and likeness added to buildings, documents and other highly visible tributes. There are efforts to put Trump’s signature on all new U.S. paper currency, also a first for a sitting president, as well as to include his image on a gold commemorative coin to celebrate the country's founding.
The commemorative passport will be the default document for people applying in person at the Washington office, although those who want a standard passport will be able to get one by applying online or outside Washington, officials said.
“As the United States celebrates America’s 250th anniversary in July, the State Department is preparing to release a limited number of specially designed U.S. passports to commemorate this historic occasion,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.
“These passports will feature customized artwork and enhanced imagery while maintaining the same security features that make the U.S. passport the most secure documents in the world,” he said.
The limited release passport will feature Trump’s picture over a gold imprimatur of his signature to an interior page, while the cover will feature the words “United States of America” in bold gold print at the top and “Passport” at the bottom — a reversal of the standard cover.
In addition, a small gold laminate American flag, with the number 250 encircled by stars, will be at the bottom of the back cover.
The Bulwark reported earlier on the commemorative passports.
The only presidents featured in current U.S. passports are in a double-page depiction of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
Other depictions include the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and scenes of the Great Plains, mountains and islands. Current passports also contain quotations from Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower.
The addition of Trump's picture and signature to the passport book is the newest step his aides have taken to increase the president's visibility, including adding his name to the U.S. Institute of Peace building and the Kennedy Center performing arts venue.
Trump also has made waves with his plans for a new White House ballroom and a massive arch to be built at one of the entrances to Washington from Virginia.
FILE - The cover of a U.S. Passport is displayed in Tigard, Ore., Dec. 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
