There is a manhunt underway right now in Rhode Island – and, frankly, beyond Rhode Island because nobody knows where the killer is – after a gunman killed two students and wounded nine others in a final exam review at Brown University Saturday afternoon.
By Sunday morning, authorities had detained a 24-year-old “person of interest.” That was FBI Director Kash Patel’s term in his tweet. But as we told you in this morning’s AM Update, authorities announced, in a hastily arranged press conference late Sunday night, that he was to be released because “evidence now points in a different direction.” They were making clear they had the wrong guy. Officials are now asking anyone who has video of the shooting or the shooter to hand it over (you can submit tips via the FBI website here).
‘Persons of Interest’
Keystone Cops comes to mind when you look at what happened at Brown University over the past 36 hours. First, they said that there was a person of interest being examined who was some Asian guy who had nothing to do with it. Then, there was this report on Kash Patel’s X feed saying local authorities had given the FBI a tip about somebody staying in a hotel, they ran it through some sort of cellular data analysis unit they have at the FBI, and that led them to a second man whose name we are not going to report because authorities have since made it clear that they’ve moved on from him.
But not before his name went all over the internet. Now, the authorities didn’t say his name publicly, but it was everywhere so, clearly, they were leaking it. First, the wrong picture was being circulated by the media. Then, they took that person’s picture down and the proper picture went up with the person who was being questioned by law enforcement. But he was not, as it turns out, the guy.
Now two men have been besmirched as potential mass shooters, wrongly. Only one of which, I guess, we can blame on the FBI and the local authorities. We will hear what the FBI has to say about that. The FBI also had a big win this weekend. It stopped a terror attack in California. But this is not great.
The Mayor’s Reaction
And then you have the local mayor trying to tell people everything’s fine. Despite the fact that a mass murderer is still on the loose, no additional shelter in place order has been issued at the university, nor are the Providence authorities particularly bothered by the fact that they lifted the shelter in place order while the shooter was clearly still a threat because they did not have the right “person of interest” in custody.
Here’s what Democrat Mayor Brett Smiley had to say Sunday night:
“We want to inform the community that that individual will shortly be released from Providence Police. We know that this is likely to cause fresh anxiety for our community. Ever since the initial call, now a day and a half ago, we have not received any credible or specific threats to the Providence community. And so the status of safety in our community remains unchanged, and we believe that you remain safe in our community.”
Smiley was singing a similar tune this morning when a reporter pressed him on how he can be so confident there is no threat to public safety, when the murderer is still at large
“The call came in for the shooting at 4:05pm on Saturday. It’s Monday morning, 10am ET, and there has not been a single credible or specific threat that we’ve received since that time. And so, just because of those facts, that’s why we believe it is safe and appropriate for residents in Providence to be sending their kids to school today and to be out in the community. There, there has been no follow up threat.”
That is outrageous. That is a politician who is worried about one thing: His ass, which none of us cares about. No one. Be honest. Just own it. Just say, in retrospect, that it was too soon. And if I were that mayor, frankly, I would say, ‘We messed up. We trusted the FBI.’ That is what I would be saying.
Why is he pretending it is all fine and good?
Megyn’s ‘Anger’
Look, part of my anger is I am just mad at the news cycle. I am mad that these kids are dead trying to study for their final exams. This sweet young vice president of the College Republicans, Ella Cook, had everything going for her. She was shot dead in the classroom. She is one of the two who were killed. The other was a young man who I believe was an immigrant from Uzbekistan.
Who knows what this shooter’s background is. He had means enough to buy a gun. He was smart enough to get on this campus and to go right to this building. Typically, there are no Saturday classes. But he seemed to know there was this exam review course happening inside this one classroom, and he happened to choose the one building that doesn’t have any security cameras.
All of that suggests he is no dummy. He figured a few things out, and he has gotten away with it so far. Who the hell knows where he is?
I don’t mean to unnecessarily scare people, but the only proper tone right now is deadly serious, cautionary warning. You don’t want to create a panic, but you also don’t want to ignore the threat. And that is what that mayor is doing.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,213 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.