Brown University Shooting Suspect Identified

The person of interest in the deadly mass shooting at Brown University has been ID’d as a 24-year-old man from Wisconsin who served in the Army and supported statehood for DC, law-enforcement sources told The Post.

Benjamin Erickson was nabbed ​before dawn Sunday at ​a Hampton Inn in Coventry, RI, ​after an 11-hour manhunt following a gunman open​ing fire at the Ivy League institution’s Providence campus during a final-exam study session Saturday.

Erickson, who ​is originally from Wisconsin, has lived in an apartment ​in Washington, DC, since 2024, with his voter registry showing a “statehood” party affiliation, according to public records.

He served as an infantryman in the US Army from May 2021 to November 2024, leaving the military with the rank of specialist, an Army rep told The Post.

During his service, Erickson trained with the Caisson Detachment of the US Army’s 3rd US Infantry Regiment, a source told CNN. He was stationed at Arlington National Cemetery, where he assisted with funerals and participated in “security duties,” according to his since-deleted LinkedIn that was seen by the outlet.

Erickson was decorated with a good conduct medal and successfully completed sniper training, the station reported.

The shooter was armed with a handgun and fired more than 40 .9mm rounds during the ​Saturday’s chaos, ​which left two students dead and nine more wounded, law-enforcement officials said.

​Sources said Erickson was not a current student at the school but that they are investigating whether he studied there or had other potential ties to it.

Erickson previously shared a post on his LinkedIn announcing his plans to continue his studies at Brown University in the fall 2025 semester. After graduating from high school in 2020, he took psychology classes online through the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, CNN reported.

​Probers also are investigating whether he has had long-standing mental-health issues, sources said.

Witnesses said the gunman shouted something as he was firing at students, but they were not sure exactly what.

Erickson did not immediately appear to have any criminal history, according to public records.

​A motive for the shooting is still unclear.

Bryce Jankowski, who went to high school with Erickson, told CNN that Erickson insisted over texts that he was studying at Brown University and was staying in a hotel “because his apartment flooded.”

“He said he was doing good,” Jankowski told the outlet, and described Erickson as “wicked smart.”

A revolver — and a small handgun equipped with a special laser light — were found in Erickson’s hotel room, according to sources and CNN.

Sources told The Post that the unique laser light on his handgun helped lead them to the person of interest.

The man told authorities he had been in his room the entire time Saturday when the shooting took place, CNN said.

The officers were able to track down the man to the hotel with the help of the FBI, whose Cellular Analysis Survey team geolocated the man to the Coventry hotel, according to agency director Kash Patel.

Police also made use of video evidence, tips from the public, an examination of license plate readers and other leads to track the individual to Coventry, according to CNN.

Footage from the university showed the alleged gunman walking calmly on the campus’s Hope Street dressed in full dark attire, with his face covered.

Police stressed on Sunday that no one has been charged yet in connection with the shooting and that the man was being held as a person of interest.

The shooting happened around 4:30 p.m. during a final exam review session at the Ivy League university for an economics class run by Rachel Friedberg, who also serves as a faculty associate of the school’s Program in Judaic Studies.

Friedberg’s research specifically focuses on economic impacts of immigrants in the US and Israel, with the professor previously serving four years on the faculty of the Department of Economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, according to Brown.

One of the injured victims remains in critical condition, with seven others listed in stable condition and one discharged from the hospital, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told reporters Sunday morning.

“We continue to be in mourning as a community about the tragic loss of life from gun violence that stole the lives of two of our students yesterday,” Brown University President Christina Paxson said in a statement.

“The past 24 hours really have been unimaginable — it’s a tragedy that no university community is ever ready for. While we always prepare for major crises, we also pray such a day never comes” she added.

A shelter-in-place order has been lifted on the Ivy League school campus, although all final exams have been cancelled.

“At this time, it is essential that we focus our efforts on providing care and support to the members of our community as we grapple with the sorrow, fear and anxiety that is impacting all of us right now,” school Provost Francis J. Doyle III said in a message.

President Trump also mourned the victims of the shooting, which came just hours before a mass shooting in Australia’s Bondi Beach.

“I want to just pay my respects to the people, unfortunately, two are no longer with us, Brown University, nine injured, and two are looking down on us right now from Heaven,” Trump said at a White House Christmas event.

A candlelight vigil was held for the victims at Lippitt Memorial on Sunday, which took place instead of the town’s holiday light celebration, Providence Councilwoman Sue AnderBois said as hundreds gathered.

“We are gathered here to share light with one another in one of Providence’s darkest times,” she said. “Our hearts break for the two students at Brown who lost their lives to gun violence yesterday, and the nine others who are injured, and their families and the whole Brown and Greater Providence community.

“It’s going to be a long road, but what I know about this community is that we will be here for one another, and truly over the last 24 hours, the best of us…has come and shone through loud and clear,” Smiley said of the community support.