Local resident recounts moments after university shooting: ‘Haven’t heard of anything like this’
Elias Christian, a Providence resident who lives just blocks from Brown University’s Barus and Holley engineering and physics building, said he first sensed something was wrong Saturday evening when he heard emergency vehicles racing toward campus.
“I haven’t lived here too long, just a couple years, but I haven’t heard of anything like this happening,” Christian told Digital. “… This is known as kind of the safe part of the city and has a safer reputation in general.”
He said the shooting feels especially jarring because of where it unfolded.
“This is kind of the heart of Brown,” he said.
Christian said he did not feel particularly scared himself, noting that police appeared to have the situation “under control.”
However, he recognized that it must have been “much scarier” for those who were closer when the chaos began.
“I’m sure it was so much scarier for people who were here before it was under control,” Christian said. “And all the students in this building and in the area.”
Digital’s Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.
