City's Response to Fatal Mass Shooting at Brown University Was 'Highly Effective,' Review Finds
PERF said city employees met or exceeded active-shooter benchmarks and acted decisively despite incomplete information.
- On Friday, the Police Executive Research Forum released a report concluding that Providence's response to the December 13, 2025, mass shooting at Brown University was "highly effective across all levels of government."
- The December 13 attack at Brown's Barus and Holley building killed two students and wounded nine others, prompting a six-day manhunt that ended with shooter Claudio Manuel Neves Valente found dead in New Hampshire.
- While PERF praised the police investigation as "exemplary," the report flagged operational friction: Providence police and Brown's Department of Public Safety and Emergency Management lacked interoperable radio communications during the crisis.
- A separate independent review by Teneo Risk found "notable gaps in leadership" within Brown's campus police, citing failures to assist unified command, though it concluded the tragedy was "highly unlikely" to have been prevented.
- Brown has since added 700 campus cameras and is negotiating integration with the city's Real Time Crime Center, amid ongoing debate over privacy rights and automated license-plate reading technology across Rhode Island.
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Key takeaways from the PERF review of Brown shooting response
Providence gets high marks for Brown shooting response, but report flags gaps
A Washington-based police research and consulting firm hired by Providence to conduct a review on its response to last year’s deadly Brown University shooting gave the city high marks for how it handled the crisis.
Providence’s response to Brown University mass shooting was ‘highly effective,’ review finds
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The City of Providence on Friday released an independent review of its response to the mass shooting at Brown University on Dec. 13, 2025, concluding that city agencies responded effectively during one of the most challenging emergencies in the city's history.
Brown external review identifies security, leadership gaps in mass shooting response • Rhode Island Current
Two campus police dispatchers were on duty at Brown University when reports of gunfire first emerged at 4:04 p.m. on Dec. 13, 2025. Within minutes, they were overwhelmed. The flood of incoming calls and radio chatter that stunned dispatchers is one of the communication breakdowns described in an independent review of the mass shooting at […]
External review of Brown University shooting finds ‘gaps in leadership’ but doubts the tragedy could have been prevented - The Boston Globe
Brown says it has added hundreds of security cameras and addressed security concerns since shooting that killed 2 students, injured 9 others
External review finds Dec. 13 shooting likely could not have been prevented
It is "highly unlikely" that the Dec. 13 mass shooting could have been prevented by Brown, according to the executive summary of an after-action review conducted by global consulting firm Teneo. But Teneo found that low DPS staffing levels were disadvantageous to their response and the University's siren system should have been activated in the wake of the shooting.Teneo has led two external security assessments related to the shooting: an after…
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