What to know about Benjamin Erickson, the person of interest in the Brown University shooting

A person of interest has been identified in Saturday’s mass shooting at Brown University, authorities said.

Benjamin Erickson, 24, was detained Sunday morning, three senior law enforcement officials told NBC News. Law enforcement officials said they are looking into his mental health history, as well as any potential connection between him and the university.

On Saturday, a gunman killed two people and wounded nine others in a shooting at Barus & Holley, an engineering and physics building on Brown’s campus in Providence, Rhode Island, authorities have said.

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Person of interest

Col. Oscar Perez Jr., the Providence police chief, told NBC News that the investigation continues but that police are confident the man in custody is the gunman. He added that he wanted to ensure all legal requirements are met before charges are brought.

“We’re going to work with the attorney general’s office to make sure that we have the right legal requirements for the charges,” Perez said. “And this is, it’s just complex. There’s a lot of evidence, there’s a lot of witnesses, and so we have to make sure that we have it all tight and to make sure we have a good case.”

Perez said police cannot hold the person of interest beyond Monday if charges are not filed. He said he hopes an arraignment will take place “sooner rather than later.”

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told residents Sunday morning that they can “breathe a sigh of relief” knowing that a person of interest has been detained.

“My message for the Providence community is, one, they should feel safer this morning than they did when they went to bed last night,” Smiley said. “But they should continue to do what we’re doing, which is to focus our efforts on sending prayers and positive thoughts to those who are recovering at the hospital.”

Military history

Public records indicate that as of 2024, Erickson’s residence was an apartment in Washington, D.C., and that he previously lived in Wisconsin. Initial public records searches do not indicate that he has a criminal record.

Erickson was an infantryman in the Army from May 2021 to November 2024, according to a statement from Lt. Col. Ruth Castro, an Army spokesperson.

“He has no deployments and left the Army in the rank of specialist,” Castro said.

Shootings in Australia, Brooklyn

Within a day of the Brown shooting, at least 15 people were killed at a Hanukkah celebration at Australia’s Bondi Beach, and six teenagers were wounded in a shooting outside a birthday party in Brooklyn, New York.

The incidents come on the 13th anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which killed 20 children and six adult staff members. The school shooting is one of the deadliest in U.S. history and one of numerous that have galvanized numerous people against the continuous trend of gun violence in the country.

In Providence, Smiley met with some of the hospitalized students, noting that some were not able to speak with him because of their conditions. He commended them for their resilience following Saturday’s attack.

“One of the students that showed tremendous courage literally said to me, ‘You know, that active shooter drill they made me do in high school actually helped me in the moment,’ which at the same time provided me hope and was so sad,” he said. “They shouldn’t have to do active shooter drills, but it helped. And the reason it helped, and the reason we do these drills, is because it’s so damn frequent.”