Young Republican named as one of two killed in Brown University shooting

Nineteen-year-old Ella Cook has been named as one of two students killed in Saturday’s shooting at Brown University.

The teenager was the vice president of the Ivy League university’s Republican club, and, according to an X post by the New York Republicans Club a ‘leading Republican voice at Brown’.

Also shot dead was Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an aspiring neurosurgeon from Uzbekistan, who was described by his family as ‘the most kind-hearted person’.

The gunman, who left nine others injured at the prestigious university in Providence, has still not been caught and remains on the run.

Tributes were paid to Ella at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama, where her family worships, reports AL.com.

During a mass on Sunday,Rev. Craig Smalley said: ‘Tragically, one of our parishioners Ella Cook was one of those killed yesterday.

‘She was an incredible, grounded, faithful bright light. She encouraged and lifted up those around her.’

Smalley referred to the many ways she served faithfully and encouraged and lifted up those around her at the Advent church, while she was also an ‘incredible light’ at Brown University.

Others have said she was deeply involved in university and faith life.

Republican senator Katie Britt of Alabama wrote in a statement with her husband, Wesley: ‘Wesley and I join the Mountain Brook community and all of Alabama in mourning the heartbreaking loss of one of our own, Ella Cook, who was senselessly killed over the weekend on Brown University’s campus.’

Mukhammad was studying at Brown University to become a neurosurgeon, according to a GoFundMe campaign launched by his family.

He was described as being ‘incredibly kind, funny and smart’ and the family’s ‘biggest role model’.

‘He always lent a helping hand to anyone in need without hesitation, and was the most kind-hearted person our family knew,’ Samira Umurzokova wrote. ‘Our family is incredibly devastated by this loss.’

So far, the GoFundMe campaign has already raised nearly $190,000 of its $200,000 goal.

Money raised will be used to support his family with expenses, and anything over donated to charity.

Speaking to CBS News, Mukhammad’s roommate Khimari Manns described the student as ‘Just a ball of joy, ball of energy’, adding: ‘He raises everybody else to a certain level.’

‘He made sure I had my stuff done. He made sure he had his stuff done. He was just always there. He’d come in there and cheer me up.’

Khimari said he sheltered in a restroom when he heard about the shooting.

While waiting for a sign that it was safe to leave, he texted Mukhammad and when he didn’t hear back grew concerned.

‘Something didn’t feel right,’ he said.

Manns called police severak times to find out if his roommate was safe and only learned he had died on Sunday.

He said being told the news did not feel like ‘reality’.

A vigil was held for both victims on Sunday night, with those gathered bringing candles and flowers, reports NBC Boston.

The shooting happened in the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building, where outer doors had been left unlocked while exams were taking place, according to police. The gunman then fled.

Teaching assistant Joseph Oduro, 21, told CNN he was in a classroom that was attacked.

‘The first couple of gunshots went straight to the chalkboard right where I was standing,’ he said said. ‘Who knows, if I didn’t duck, maybe I’m not here today.’

A student next to him took two bullets to the leg and was due to undergo surgery on Sunday, he added.

Police have released surveillance footage showing a potential suspect dressed in black walking near the building where the attack took place.

At a press conference late on Sunday, officials said there had been enough evidence to justify taking into custody an unnamed person of interest, a man in his 20s.

But Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told reporters the investigation was going in a ‘different direction,’ without offering more detail.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said investigators had determined there was ‘no basis to believe that he’s a person of interest, so… he’s being released’.

Officials said they were resuming the search for a suspect but added there were no credible threats to the community and that they would not reimpose a shelter-in-place order for the campus and the surrounding area that had been lifted earlier.

Brown University is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the US.

The facility, which currently has 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students, canceled exams and classes for the rest of the year.

The killings came just a day before another mass shooting, this time at Bondi Beach in Australia, where 15 died.

It is one of the deadliest attacks on Australia’s Jewish community in the nation’s history.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@usnewsrank.com.

For more stories like this, check our news page.