The Providence police and fire dispatch logs provide a minute-by-minute account of the chaotic response to the Dec. 13 Brown University shooting that left two students dead and nine wounded. Initial 911 calls reported an active shooter and up to 10 shots fired inside academic hallways, prompting mass-casualty protocols and shelter-in-place orders for hundreds of students. Officers reported multiple on-scene detentions and conducted methodical, floor-by-floor searches before declaring buildings secure. Authorities later identified the shooter as Claudio Neves-Valente, who died by suicide after a manhunt; investigators have not released a motive.
Dispatch Logs Reveal Chaos and Rapid Response During Deadly Brown University Shooting
Dispatch records from Brown University shooting capture chaos of deadly campus attack
Newly obtained dispatch records from the Providence Police and Fire Departments offer a detailed, minute-by-minute account of the frantic, multi-building response to the Dec. 13 Brown University shooting that left two students dead and nine others wounded, according to Fox News Digital.
Providence Police officers head into the Barus and Holley building on the campus of Brown University on December 16, 2025.
What Happened
The shooting unfolded shortly after 4 p.m. near the Barus and Holley building, by Brown's Sciences Library, and spread across adjacent academic buildings along Thayer, Hope and Waterman streets. Initial 911 calls reported a man shot in the back near Manning Walk; within minutes campus police notified city authorities that multiple people had been shot.
Crime scene tape blocks off streets near Brown University as investigation continues in Providence, R.I., Saturday.
Timeline and On-Scene Response
Dispatch logs show a rapid escalation of radio traffic, including reports of an active shooter and witnesses saying as many as 10 shots were fired inside hallways and classrooms. Witnesses initially described a male suspect dressed all in black and wearing a face covering; images of initial suspects were later released and those initial suspects were subsequently cleared.
Despite its role as Brown University’s highest governing authority with direct power over presidential oversight and long-term strategy, the board of trustees has declined to comment in the wake of the murders that exposed serious lapses in campus security.
Officers reported encountering a possible suspect in a basement at 167 Thayer St. at 4:22 p.m., then reported one person in custody after an encounter in a bathroom at 4:38 p.m., and another person detained in a vehicle at 4:42 p.m. Those detentions were separate from an individual taken into custody the following morning at a hotel in Coventry, who was later released. Providence Police have not provided additional public comment on those early detentions.
Law enforcement officials carrying weapons gather near Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting.
Mass-Casualty Protocols and Shelter-In-Place
Providence Fire Department officials declared a mass casualty incident and dispatched rescue task forces. Medics were ordered to wait in ballistic-protected staging areas until police cleared each scene. Fire logs show victims were found both inside and outside buildings, including hallways, stairwells and basement areas.
Investigators collect evidence around the Nissan Sentra which was used by Brown University shooter Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, in Salem, N.H., Thursday, Dec. 19, 2025.
As reports poured in, hundreds of students sheltered in place across campus. Police records indicate roughly 150 to 300 people were barricaded inside Solomon Hall alone. Officers cleared buildings methodically, floor by floor, evacuating multiple victims and rescuing groups barricaded on upper floors.
Aftermath and Investigation
By early evening, campus buildings were declared secure and buses were brought in to relocate sheltered students to reunification points. Hospitals across the region were notified, with Rhode Island Hospital designated to receive the most critically injured patients. Fox News Digital requested the 911 audio recordings related to the shooting but had not received them from the Providence Police Department at the time of reporting.
Suspect and Further Violence
Authorities later identified the gunman as Claudio Neves-Valente, 48, a Portuguese national and a former Brown student described by university leadership as a one-time physics prodigy who had attended Brown in 2000–2001 and had no recent affiliation with the university. Police say Neves-Valente died by suicide after a multistate manhunt.
Providence police have not publicly released a motive. Officials say Neves-Valente killed two students and wounded nine on the Brown campus, then traveled to Massachusetts and fatally shot Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro two days later.
Dr. Bruno Goncalves, president of Portugal’s Institute of Plasma and Nuclear Fusion, told The Daily Mail that Neves-Valente did not appear to maintain a relationship with Loureiro in the decades after they studied together, and suggested, "The strongest theory is that Claudio saw Nuno as a symbol of the academic and professional success that he himself had failed to achieve."
The investigation remains active. Authorities continue to review dispatch recordings and other evidence; Fox News Digital and other outlets await further information from the Providence Police Department.
Fox News Digital's Stepheny Price contributed to this report.
