On Saturday, a tragedy shook Brown’s campus.

Two students were killed, and nine others were injured in a mass shooting that occurred in Barus and Holley. In the aftermath, the Brown and Providence communities have shown up for one another — providing shelter and meals to students and raising money for victims.

The Herald spoke to members of the community who supported one another, both on the night of the incident and in the days that followed.

‘They sacrificed their own safety’: Providing shelter during lockdown

As news of the shooting spread across campus Saturday afternoon, several local businesses took students in, offering them shelter and food.

After being alerted of an active shooter, the staff at Ceremony — a popular cafe and teahouse — dimmed the lights, pulled the curtains down and flipped chairs onto tables, according to Cheyenne Gansell, Ceremony’s sales and marketing specialist.

For the next several hours, eight students and five employees sheltered in place in the Ceremony basement.

Once the lockdown was lifted, Gansell and other employees drove students home. Some employees housed students overnight. “I think it was really important to be there in community, with the community, for the community,” she said.

The next day, one of the students who had sheltered in the Ceremony basement stopped by the store to buy one last matcha before she went home, and to thank the employees for hiding her, Gansell said.

Coffee Exchange, a local coffee shop, took in about 30 people on Saturday night, most of them students, according to Owner Charlie Fishbein. The store turned all the lights off once the alert was sent out, and students hid in the bathroom and the back stairwell.

“We were in the dark for seven hours,” Fishbein told The Herald, describing how everyone was quiet, passing the time on laptops and phones or by reading books. “The atmosphere was surreal,” he added. Taste of India, a restaurant across the street, provided food later in the evening, which was served “buffet-style with a flashlight,” Fishbein said.

When students and staff began to leave the coffee shop at around 11 p.m., Fishbein made sure everyone had a ride and a place to go.

Students who took shelter in the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center were met with support from several non-profit organizations.

Julia Antony ’26, who was working at the OMAC when the shooting happened, noted that most students there “hadn’t eaten in hours” and that “it was really comforting” when volunteers from non-profit groups showed up.

“The fact that they were there and they sacrificed their own safety to help us was really admirable,” Antony said.

Over the course of the weekend, Red Cross volunteers provided food and refreshments for over 1,500 people, including “students, faculty and local responders,” according to a statement sent to The Herald from the American Red Cross Connecticut and Rhode Island Region.

‘A source of stability’: Community members open homes to students

Many Brown faculty and staff also opened their doors to students in need.

Vio Diniz, a cashier with Brown Dining Services for over 20 years, was at home when the University alerted her of the shooting. She welcomed several Brown students into her home until the shelter-in-place order was lifted. Some stayed the night.

“Brown students, they are like my kids,” she said.

When the shooting occurred, Associate Professor of History Jeremy Mumford was in the middle of leading a HIST1976V: “History of Childhood” seminar of about 12 students at his home. Rather than proctoring an exam during that time slot, Mumford had opted to host the class for a final discussion and dinner.

As soon as they learned of the attack, Mumford and his wife, Professor of Biology, Data Science and Computer Science Sohini Ramachandran, told students they could stay the night at their house.

“My daughter, who’s 12, was very interested in making sure that everyone had a comfortable bed,” Mumford said, recalling how she “gave her bed” to students and “went around making up a bed on the couches.”

Because there wasn’t enough space in the couple’s house to shelter everyone, Ramachandran called a neighboring professor to take in half of the students. Friends of students in the class who “didn’t have anywhere to go” also arrived later at the house to take shelter, according to Mumford.

Ellia Sweeney ’25 MD’30 called her friends who were still students, offering her family’s home in Cranston to “whoever needed a place to stay that night.” Three students took her up on her offer.

“The night was harrowing,” Sweeney said. Instead of sleeping, she stayed up sending text messages checking in on her friends at Brown.

The following night, when it was announced that the detained person of interest was released, Sweeney sent out another wave of messages saying her home was open. A total of 10 people came over for dinner, and three stayed the night. She drove them to the airport the following morning.

“I can’t be prouder to be part of the Brown community,” Sweeney said, expressing her appreciation for those who helped students with transportation and housing.

Others, like Adjunct Lecturer of Visual Arts Susanna Koetter, offered to drive students to the airport on Sidechat, an anonymous online forum for college students.

“I want to be a source of stability for my students, for all the students,” Koetter said.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misreported Ellia Sweeney’s class year. That has since been updated. The Herald regrets the error.

‘It’s a small gesture’: Donating time and resources

The Undergraduate Council of Students opened a community assistance form, which received over 2,000 responses as of Monday evening, according to UCS President Talib Reddick ’26.

Most of the responses have been from alums, parents and community members offering financial support, rides, housing and other supplies, he said.

The idea for the form was proposed by First-Year Representative Cindy Sun ’29, who has been “really leading the charge in terms of monitoring everything,” according to Reddick.

Sun said she first got the idea after her roommate’s mom offered her a ride and a place to stay. “I realized that I was really lucky to be part of a community,” Sun told The Herald. “I wanted to make sure that the people who didn’t have that…would be able to get a ride, a place to stay, food if they needed it.”

“People everywhere” — including Brown alumni and community members at Columbia, Yale and Tufts — have offered support via the form, Sun said. Some mental health professionals have also reached out to offer counseling services via the form, she added.

Reddick also worked with Uber and Lyft to provide community members on campus with discount codes for travel.

“Our hearts are with the Brown University community,” said Senior Public Policy Manager at Lyft Brendan Joyce. “It’s a small gesture, but we hope a meaningful gesture to help folks with their transportation needs during this difficult time.”

‘Exemplifies the spirit of Brown’: Raising funds for victims and survivors

Samira Umurzokova, the sister of Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, one of the students who was killed during the shooting, began a GoFundMe that raised over $490,000 as of Wednesday. The GoFundMe aims to help with “expenses the family will have to face,” the description reads. Any remaining donations will go toward a charity in his name.

Another GoFundMe, organized by Tiffany Netto MD’27, raised nearly $87,000 to support the hospitalized victims’ medical bills. “I am completely floored by how quickly money was raised,” Netto said.

The fundraiser is currently paused as Netto is working with President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 and deans at Warren Alpert Medical School to distribute the funds.

“I think this fundraiser really exemplifies the spirit of Brown,” Netto said. Despite being in a city, she said the University has a “small town community feel.”

Students and alumni have also raised funds for the victims and students trying to get home.

Autumn Wong ’25 — an alum living in Miami who started the Bruno Flight Fund GoFundMe — raised over $20,000 to assist with any additional travel costs for students departing campus early. Wong said she has been able to cover the cost of 22 flights as of Tuesday, and is working on getting in touch with Delta and American Airlines to rebook students’ flights.

Wong was a Meiklejohn and Community Coordinator as a student, and she said she began reaching out to her former residents and advisees who are still at Brown when she heard the news. She started covering flights for students out of pocket, and once she “drained” her savings account, she started the GoFundMe to offset her personal costs and cover more flights.

“I hope the students just feel really supported,” she told the Herald, adding that “it’s probably a great stress relief to (not) have to worry about one more thing and just focus on getting back to their families.”

‘Support and comfort’: Sharing meals and kind words

Andrea Capotosto, senior director of finance, operations and analysis at the School of Public Health, gave out “free mom hugs” outside the Sharpe Refectory the day after the shooting.

She was inspired by seeing “someone doing free dad hugs at a pride event a couple years ago,” she said. “I just saw the reaction of the people who were there, and I just found it so moving.”

“If my children were far away from me and they were scared, I would want someone else to do what I did,” she continued. “I wanted to remind people that for every tragedy that happens, there’s goodness out there, and people that want to help,” she added.

Inside the Ratty, Brown community members came together to support victims of the shooting through a poster-making station that Daniel Soto Parra ’28 helped manage. Students wrote messages of support on posters for their peers recovering in the hospital.

In a message to The Herald, Soto Parra thanked everyone who contributed to the posters, adding that they were delivered to Rhode Island Hospital later that day. Soto Parra also started a petition calling on Brown to require ID swipes for all University buildings at all times. The petition had over 800 signatures as of Wednesday.

“It should be how we come together as a community, rather than the violence, that defines this event,” he said. “There is no darkness that love cannot turn into light.”

Kabob and Curry, a restaurant on Thayer Street, gave all students — and any community member who asked — a free meal on Sunday. Madhav Basnet, one of the managers, said he was “very happy to serve” the Brown community.

About 120 students came by for a free meal, according to Basnet. He checked to make sure everyone who ate at the restaurant had a safe place to go after, and offered free food for them to take home.

“Brown is very close to us. This is our kind of community,” he said.

Joseph Oduro ’25.5, a teaching assistant for ECON 0110: “Principles of Economics” who witnessed the shooting, expressed gratitude for peers who have provided “support and comfort” to him in the days following the tragedy.

“That has been extremely helpful, just knowing that I have a community behind me,” he said in an interview with The Herald. “And that’s the community that I love and will support and continue to try my best to protect at all costs.”

“Continue to lean on your brothers and sisters,” he said. “That’s going to be the best way … to really be able to thrive on campus once again.”