Rhode Island joins Utah on the diverse list of states to experience a college campus shooting

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Rhode Island joins Utah with recent shootings at Brown University and Utah Valley University.
Two were killed at Brown University; the shooter remains unidentified as investigation continues.
Utah formed a task force on campus safety after Charlie Kirk's death at UVU.

SALT LAKE CITY — More than a half-century has passed since a former U.S. Marine named Charles Whitman ascended the 27-story clock tower on the University of Texas' Austin campus and began shooting at random people below.

Whitman killed 13 and wounded dozens more before he was shot and killed by police.

The 1966 University of Texas shooting was one of the nation's first mass shootings — and, unknowingly at the time, served as a grim foreshadow of the reality of deadly shootings on American college campuses.

Last Saturday, two people were killed and nine others wounded at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, after a gunman dressed in black entered the Ivy League school's engineering building during final exams and began firing.

The search for the shooter continued Monday — and there is no current suspect as investigators were scouring the campus community and outlying areas for video surveillance that might help identify the attacker.

"Sadly, today is a day that the city of Providence and the state of Rhode Island prayed would never come," said Providence Mayor Brett Smiley on the day of the Brown University shooting.

"We've heard about horrific acts of gun violence and active shooter situations in other places, but not here."

People hold candles during a vigil, Sunday, in Providence, R.I., for those injured or killed in the Saturday shooting on the campus of Brown University. (Photo: Steven Senne, Associated Press)

An unwanted reminder of the Charlie Kirk/Utah Valley University slaying

The long list of college campus shootings has, of course, a recent high-profile Utah entry.

On Sept. 10, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed by a rooftop gunman at Orem's Utah Valley University.

Soon after the slaying, Tyler Robinson, 22, was charged with Kirk's murder and now faces the death penalty.

The UVU shooting added to the already vigorous debate on how to keep Utah campuses safe.

Shortly after the Kirk murder, the Utah Board of Higher Education directed Higher Education Commissioner Geoffrey Landward and his office to establish a task force on campus safety.

The new task force will evaluate campus safety at the state's 16 public higher education institutions — which includes eight degree-granting schools and eight technical colleges. It will then make recommendations to the Utah Board of Higher Education for systemwide policies and practices.

Landward said the campus safety task force "will be looking for stakeholders across the spectrum" who can provide insight — including students, college presidents, safety experts and law enforcement.

The task force's actions, added the commissioner, will better ensure that "students have a place where they can feel safe to learn — and faculty have a place where they can feel safe to research and teach, and that our communities have a place where they can come and express themselves and enjoy the benefits and beauties of our campuses."

Chronicling US campus gun violence

Saturday's Brown University shooting and last September's Charlie Kirk/UVU shooting each double as sober reminders that college campus gun violence can happen anywhere in the country.

The United States flag flies at half-staff as a sign of mourning for the victim's of Saturday's shooting, on the campus of Brown University, Monday, in Providence, R.I. (Photo: Robert F. Bukaty, Associated Press)

The Associated Press compiled a list of deadly shootings on college campuses in the U.S. since the University of Texas tragedy almost six decades ago.

The list includes incidents of mass violence on rural, suburban and urban campuses — and on opposite American coasts and in the nation's heartland:

Kentucky State University: December 2025, one dead

A shooting at a residence hall at the public historically Black university left one student dead and another critically injured. The suspect, who is a parent of a student, faces murder and assault charges.

Florida State University: April 2025, two dead

Two died and six were wounded in a shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee. A 21-year-old man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted first-degree murder in connection with the shooting.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas: December 2023, three dead

A 67-year-old former business professor, whose applications to teach at UNLV had been rejected, opened fire in the building housing the university's business school, killing three professors and badly wounding a fourth. The gunman was killed in a shootout with police outside the building.

Michigan State University: February 2023, three dead

A 43-year-old gunman fired inside an academic building and the student union, killing three students and injuring five others. He later killed himself miles away from the campus in East Lansing while being confronted by police.

University of Virginia: November 2022, three dead

A student and former member of the school's football team fatally shot three current players aboard a charter bus as they returned from a field trip, setting off panic and a 12-hour lockdown of the campus until the suspect was captured. Two other students were also wounded on the campus. The shooter has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges and is awaiting sentencing.

Northern Arizona University: October 2015, one dead

Just weeks into his freshman year, a student walked onto the campus in Flagstaff and opened fire. One student was killed and three others were wounded in the first deadly shooting since the university was founded in 1899. The shooter later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Umpqua Community College: October 2015, nine dead

A 26-year-old man opened fire on his writing class, killing his instructor and eight other people at the school in rural Roseburg, Oregon. Nine more people were also wounded. The shooter then killed himself.

University of California, Santa Barbara: May 2014, six dead

A 22-year-old college student reportedly frustrated over sexual rejections fatally stabbed or shot six students near the school in Isla Vista, California, and injured several others before he killed himself.

Santa Monica College: June 2013, six dead

A deadly act of domestic violence at home turned public when a 23-year-old man left after killing his father and older brother, carjacked a woman and shot at other vehicles. He then entered the campus where he had previously been enrolled as a student and opened fire, killing four more people before he was fatally shot by police in the school's library.

Oikos University: April 2012, seven dead

A former nursing student fatally shot seven people at the small private college in East Oakland, California. He was given seven consecutive life sentences and died in prison in 2019.

Norhtern Illinois University: February 2008, five dead

A 27-year-old former student shot and killed five people and wounded more than 20 others at the school in DeKalb, Illinois, before killing himself.

Virginia Tech: April 2007, 32 dead

In the deadliest shooting at a U.S. college, a 23-year-old student killed 32 people on the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. More than two dozen others were wounded. The gunman then killed himself.

University of Iowa: November 1991, five dead

A former graduate student upset that his doctoral dissertation wasn't nominated for an academic award fatally shot himself after killing five people and injuring one other person in a shooting spree on the campus in Iowa City.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.