Police will release a man detained in connection with Saturday’s deadly shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in an embarrassing twist for FBI Director Kash Patel.
The decision was confirmed in a late-night press conference including Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, who said evidence in the case “now points in a different direction.”
Patel had previously posted about tracking the person of interest down, claiming on X that the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team had used “critical geolocation capabilities” to detain the man in a hotel room in Coventry.
Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee said officials had contacted Patel ahead of announcing the news of the release of the person of interest.
“I wanted to make sure that he was fully aware of this press event, and he was,” McKee said. “And he also committed to continue to bring out the resources of the federal government into this case.”
The person of interest detained in the Brown University shooting was a 24-year-old from Wisconsin, multiple law enforcement sources told NBC News and The Washington Post on Sunday. The term “person of interest” is usually used by authorities to refer to someone who they believe has information related to a case.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said authorities were unsure if the shooter had left the state.
“We are searching for additional video evidence,” Smiley said, adding that he was aware that releasing the individual would cause “fresh anxiety” for the local community.
“We want to reiterate what we said earlier, which remains true, which is 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,” Smiley said.
“And so, the status of safety in our community remains unchanged. And we believe that you remain safe in our community, though we will continue to have an enhanced police presence throughout the city and on the Brown campus.”
The shooting began around 4 p.m. local time on Saturday. Two people were killed while another nine were injured.
Col. Oscar Perez said it was a “very complex investigation” and “we followed a specific lead but we were able to examine... evidence that led us to this individual. It’s not a mistake, it’s just how investigations work. We’re not in the business of putting people in jail that don’t deserve to be.”
“I think it’s fair to say that there is no basis to consider him a person of interest, so that’s why he’s being released,” Neronha said. “We still have a lot of steps to take in this case.”
He added, “I’ve seen enough after 30 years in law enforcement, there were a lot of twists and a lot of roads that I’ve walked down, and so I’m not here to predict anything.”
Neronha declined to share the next steps in the investigation, noting that, “We have a murderer out there frankly, so we’re not going to give away the game plan. Sometimes investigations take a little bit of time.”
Patel has faced criticism over fumbling several key investigations since taking over leadership of the FBI in February.
Hours after the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk in September, Patel wrote on X that the “subject for the horrific shooting… is now in custody,” before posting again less than two hours later to say the “subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement.”
Last month, Patel complained that the estate of Jeffrey Epstein was refusing to hand over documents to investigators, which was quickly shut down by a lawyer for the sex offender’s estate.
“The Epstein estate has no idea what information the FBI or the Department of Justice has available to them, in addition to materials the FBI took from Mr Epstein’s residences after his arrest in 2019,“ the spokesman said in a statement to the Daily Beast.
“However, FBI Director Patel is incorrect when he claims that the estate has refused the DOJ’s requests for information—we are unaware of any such requests.”
