No injuries were reported after several shots were fired on the corner of Brown and Benevolent streets at around 2:20 a.m. Saturday morning. Those involved in the shooting were unaffiliated with the University, according to a preliminary Department of Public Safety incident report.
At 2 a.m., around 400 people were gathered on the Main Green and in Sayles Hall, where a party co-sponsored by Alpha Phi Alpha and The Brotherhood was coming to an end. After various verbal arguments, fistfights erupted and one individual fired several shots before running away, according to the report.
Units from DPS and the Providence Police Department were on the scene at the time of the shooting but were unable to identify the shooter. Officers from DPS, unarmed and adhering to a policy of disengagement, took cover once the shots were fired, according to the report.
Excerpts from the preliminary report were provided to The Herald by Mark Nickel, director of the Brown News Service. The excerpts did not refer to Alpha Phi Alpha or The Brotherhood by name.
PPD and DPS are currently investigating the incident, Nickel said.
Alex Richardson '07, president of Buxton House, located on Brown Street across from Upper Keeney Quadrangle, said he heard four shots in rapid succession. Richardson was in his first-floor room at the time.
"At first, I assumed it was someone kicking a door down or something, because I would never think that there would be gunfire on campus," Richardson said. "But a few minutes later, there were about eight police cars and 25 cops walking around."
A national dance competition held in Providence on Saturday night may have led to an unusually high number of non-Brown students converging on College Hill for the weekend, said Jamie Ferguson '07, president of the Rhode Island chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, an off-campus fraternity.
The Stompfest Rhode Island Invasion Stepshow, an annual dance contest held in the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Providence, attracts students from across the country. Alpha Phi Alpha's party in Sayles on Friday night was advertised as this year's "mega pre-party" on the show's official Web site without the fraternity's consent, Ferguson said.
"There were so many people from New York and (Washington) D.C. who came for the show but had nothing to do on Friday night," he said. "We had no choice but to turn away college students and Hope High kids who wanted to get into our party but didn't have proper student I.D."
Ferguson said those who were denied entry into the party became frustrated and lingered around on the Main Green, where several altercations eventually took place.
No DPS crime alert had been sent to the Brown community by Sunday night, but Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services David Greene sent an e-mail to undergraduates Sunday night summarizing the incident. Greene, also citing a high number of substance-related medical emergencies at an unspecified Saturday night event, announced reviews of the two weekend events and of University policy surrounding student-organized parties.
Greene's e-mail did not refer to Alpha Phi Alpha or The Brother-hood.
DPS representatives could not be reached for comment.
