Brown University shooting: Brown places its vice president of public safety on leave as feds open investigation into safety after mass shooting
Brown University announced on Monday it placed its police chief on administrative leave while an after-action review of a shooting earlier this month that left two students dead and nine others wounded takes place.
Rodney Chatman, Brown’s vice president for public safety and emergency management, will be on leave effective immediately, Brown President Christina Paxson said in the statement.
Hugh T. Clements, former chief of police of the Providence Police Department, will take over as interim and also oversee the after-action review, Paxson said.
“A thorough After-Action Review is an essential part of any recovery and response following a mass casualty event like the one that has devastated our campus,” she added.
The school is working to add enhanced security measures to the campus, according to the statement.
“The concerns our community has about safety and security are real. And I share them,” Paxson said.
Separately, the Department of Education said it would review whether the Ivy League school violated the Clery Act, which “requires institutions of higher education to meet certain campus safety and security-related requirements as a condition of receiving federal student aid,” according to the Monday release.
The Trump administration “will fight to ensure that recipients of federal funding are vigorously protecting students’ safety and following security procedures as required under federal law,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said.
CNN has reached out to the university for comment about the Department of Education’s review.
Paxson’s note said all but two of the injured victims have since been released from the hospital.
“As we work to heal and recover, our primary focus is to nurture a thriving campus by attending to the psychological and social health of all members of our community while we also demonstrate that Brown is still Brown — a safe, inclusive, caring community of talented students and scholars and dedicated staff.”
Earlier Monday, CNN affiliate WJAR also reported Brown University has retained former federal prosecutor Zachary Cunha in the wake of the shooting.
“Brown works routinely with outside counsel whose expertise complements that of the University’s Office of the General Counsel,” a statement obtained by WJAR said.
Brown said it retained Cunha to “assist the University in coordinating with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.”
The Department of Education is requesting a range of documents and information from the university, such as annual security reports, records of reported crimes, and crime logs covering recent years.
“Students deserve to feel safe at school, and every university across this nation must protect their students and be equipped with adequate resources to aid law enforcement,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.
In the days since the shooting on December 13, questions have come up surrounding the Ivy League’s campus security features and procedures.
Brown has said its campus has an “expansive network” of security cameras, with more than 1,200 cameras installed across campus buildings and spaces in both interior and exterior locations.
Brown spokesperson Brian Clark has previously noted, however, that “security cameras do not extend to every hallway, classroom, laboratory and office across the 250+ buildings on campus.”
The doors to the engineering building at Barus and Holley, where the shooting took place, were unlocked when the gunman entered.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley has said the building “is on the literal edge of the campus,” and as soon as the shooting suspect walked outside, he “was no longer on campus.”
Last week, Paxson said the university has two security systems that can be activated during an emergency. One sends out text messages, phone calls and emails, while the other is a siren system.
The first system, which “was activated within minutes of the incident,” sent messages to over “20,000 individuals,” Paxson said.
The sirens are not used during an active shooting because it would cause a rush of people inside, she said.
It is activated when “there is a broad-scale emergency and we want people to rush into buildings,” Paxson added.
This is not Brown University’s first run in with President Donald Trump’s administration.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration reached a multimillion-dollar agreement with school to restore federal funding.
Under the deal announced at the time the Ivy League university agreed to pay $50 million in grants over 10 years to Rhode Island workforce development organizations, according to the Brown University president and the White House official.
This story has been updated with additional information
