Brown University shooting: Long Islander recalls running from gunshots on campus

Long Islander Ohm Patel was working on a fluid mechanics class project on Saturday afternoon in the lobby of a Brown University building when he heard shots ring out.

About 20 to 30 yards away, a gunman dressed in black had opened fire in a teeming lecture hall during the university’s final exams, killing two students and injuring nine others.

Terror descended on Patel, 20, a junior. The Patchogue resident looked at his roommate, with whom he had been working on the project, and dashed toward the building's north entrance. He left behind everything, including his phone.

"You hear about these things on the news, but you never really think that it could happen to you," Patel said in a phone interview.

After running out of the engineering and physics building, Patel said he still didn’t feel safe. He saw 50 to 70 officers with guns and shields running into the building. One of his friends, Spencer Yang, who plays on the Brown club volleyball team with Patel, was shot in the leg after helping other students.

Patel described the shooting scene as simply "grotesque."

"I kind of just put my hands on my head, and I was just in disbelief," he said.

Days later, Brown University and the greater Providence, Rhode Island, community are mourning while still searching for answers.

"The Brown community’s heart is breaking, and Providence’s heart is breaking along with it," Mayor Brett Smiley said in the aftermath.

After the shooting, law enforcement enveloped the Ivy League school and its surrounding neighborhood.

A suspect was seen on surveillance footage walking from the Barus & Holley building, where the shooting occurred, law enforcement officials said. A person of interest was later detained but released.

On Monday, police and the FBI disseminated more video showing a masked person whom they suspect of having done the shooting.

Law enforcement officials previously said it’s unclear how the gunman entered the classroom, which is on the first floor. Exterior doors to the building were open, city officials said. But badges were needed to enter rooms where finals were taking place.

The shooting stunned the university, founded in in 1764 and known for the unique open curriculum offered to its 11,000 students, according to its website. Providence is known for its strong academic influence from Brown, in the College Hill section of the city, the Rhode Island School of Design and other institutions, as well as its historic architecture and vibrant arts community.

The Barus & Holley building is the academic facility where Patel, a mechanical engineering major, would typically have spent at least five hours daily — a place he referred to as "home."

After the shooting, Patel eventually got home to his off-campus apartment. In the meantime, his family and loved ones had not heard from him, and his phone was in the Barus & Holley building.

Patel said he asked upstairs neighbors to use their phone to contact his parents.

"They were extremely relieved," he said of his parents.

Patel said he’s still working through his emotions. Sleep has been hard to come by in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. He also said he’s hesitant to go outside because the shooter has not been arrested.

Overall, Patel said he is "really lucky to be here."

"The little problems that we have day to day and that consume us are really not important when it comes to life and death," he said.

With AP