The investigation into the Brown University shooting faces hurdles after students were allowed to go home for winter break, former law enforcement officials said.
The shooting at Brown University happened around 4 p.m. Saturday at the Barus and Holley engineering building. A person of interest was taken into custody early Sunday morning, but was later released.
"This choice was made out of our profound concern for all students, faculty and staff on our campus. In the immediate aftermath of these devastating events, we recognize that learning and assessment are significantly hindered in the short term and that many students and others will wish to depart campus," Brown University Provost Francis J. Doyle III wrote in a message to the campus community. "Students are free to leave if they are able."
"That opportunity has kind of passed by," he said. "Right now, the best thing that's possible is for these students and maybe some of the faculty, assistant teachers, etc, who are there, to have these virtual discussions with the police, document what they believe they've either heard or saw."
Daly said it's very important for investigators to get in touch with students who were at the crime scene.
"I still think it's a very important part of this investigation to have any of those people, any of the other students, any of faculty, the assistant teaching faculty who were there," he said. "So the fact that they're now kind of gone to all kind of corners of the country, this creates more of a challenge."
The University of Idaho canceled classes for a shorter period of time after four students were killed in November 2022, though some students went home early for fall break after the shooting.
Michael Balboni, former homeland security advisor for New York State, told Fox News Digital the eyewitness accounts of the crime become harder to get since students were told they could leave.
"It's very difficult to try to get eyewitness accounts, everything from how did the individual walk into the room where the shooting was done," Balboni said.
Balboni, however, said that Brown administrators were forced to make a "very difficult decision" in canceling exams and letting students go home.