Officials release new video footage from day of fatal Brown University shooting

Authorities withhold most graphic images to avoid harming victims' families

Published on Feb. 9, 2026

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Providence officials have released new video and audio footage from the day of the Brown University shooting that killed two students and injured nine others in December. The material includes a campus police officer's initial call for help, body camera footage of the police response, and audio of officers searching for the suspect. However, the city has withheld other footage and redacted the most violent images to avoid further distressing the victims' families.

Why it matters

The release of this footage provides a more comprehensive view of the police response to the shooting, though officials say it does not answer the harder question of why the gunman, a former Brown graduate student, carried out the attack. The city has been balancing transparency with sensitivity to the victims' families, who are still grieving and working to move forward.

The details

The newly released material includes audio of a campus police officer calling city police at 4:07 p.m. to report gunshots, followed by an update four minutes later with a suspect description. The city also released roughly 20 minutes of heavily redacted body camera footage showing a chaotic scene as officers searched for the shooter and evacuated students. Officials defended their decision to release only one video, saying it offered the most "comprehensive" view, and argued that additional footage would not answer why the attack occurred.

  • On Dec. 13, gunman Claudio Neves Valente, 48, entered a study session in a Brown academic building and opened fire on students.
  • The city released the new video and audio footage on Monday, February 9, 2026.

The players

Brett Smiley

The mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, who spoke at a news conference about the release of the footage.

Claudio Neves Valente

The 48-year-old gunman who killed two Brown University students and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor before taking his own life.

Ella Cook

A 19-year-old Brown University sophomore who was killed in the shooting.

Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov

An 18-year-old Brown University freshman who was killed in the shooting.

Nuno F.G. Loureiro

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was fatally shot by Valente at his Boston-area home.

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What they’re saying

“This was a difficult process to both maintain our commitment to transparency, to respond to requests from the media and the public's right to know exactly what happened, but also balancing what we know are potential, really serious downside effects of releasing some of this information.”

— Brett Smiley, Mayor of Providence (pbs.org)

“Many of their kids are working really hard at moving forward and moving on, and releases like today they fear will make it harder to move forward.”

— Brett Smiley, Mayor of Providence (pbs.org)

What’s next

The Justice Department is continuing its investigation into the shooter's motives and planning behind the attack.

The takeaway

This tragic shooting has left the Brown University community and the city of Providence grappling with the difficult balance between transparency and sensitivity as they work to understand what happened and support the victims' families in their grief and recovery.