About two months after the Dec. 13 mass shooting that left two students dead and nine injured, Providence released a series of public records from the day of the event.
The records include body camera footage from law enforcement’s initial response, incident reports from the police and fire departments and the audio from calls received by the Providence Police Department.
In a Monday press conference, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said that the release marks the closure of the PPD’s investigation into the shooting.
The Providence Fire Department received the first call reporting the shooting at 4:05 p.m. on Dec. 13, according to the fire department call log. At approximately 4:06 p.m., Providence police responded to Barus and Holley, PPD records read. By 4:09 p.m., officers in Brown’s Department of Public Safety reported that three individuals were shot, according to the fire department logs.
Smiley said that the body camera footage from Providence Police Lt. Patrick Potter, the commanding officer of the special response unit, was selected for release because this “singular bodycam” provides “the most comprehensive view” of the PPD’s initial response.
The body camera footage begins at 4:16 p.m. on the day of the shooting. In it, Potter can be seen walking through the hallways of Barus and Holley and the Engineering Research Center. He occasionally steps outside to coordinate with other law enforcement officials. Potter also directs other officers to search the building, secure entry points and stage rescues.
Parts of the audio and video footage are redacted. At times, the footage is largely or completely blacked out.
Providence Chief of Police Oscar Perez said during the press conference that this was done to ensure that the footage does not “revictimize” those affected.
In the body camera video, Potter directed other officers to conduct a “systematic search.” He then called for all traffic to be shut down on Hope and Brook streets.
“With the absence of better information, we’re gonna go with the shooter might still be in this building,” Potter said later in the footage. “So use caution, alright?”
Close to the end of the video, Potter added that the police had “no information as to where (the shooter) might be.”
The Providence Police Incident Report notes that on Dec. 15, detectives showed images from video surveillance of the suspect to two shooting victims at Rhode Island Hospital. Both victims identified the pictured suspect as the shooter. A third individual who met with detectives also used the images to identify the shooting suspect.
The report adds that after the suspect was found deceased in a storage unit in New Hampshire, Federal Bureau of Investigation Evidence Recovery Teams seized “a large number of items,” including two firearms, linking him to both the Brown shooting and the Dec. 15 shooting of MIT Professor Nuno Loureiro.
Other items that were seized included the suspect’s “dark grey and green two-tone jacket” seen in surveillance footage, “hundreds of rounds of ammunition” and body armor.
The report also notes that DNA samples from the shooting suspect’s body matched DNA recovered from “ballistic evidence” at Barus and Holley.
In the press conference, Smiley stated that the release of the public records had been delayed until after Saturday’s memorial service in Sayles Hall “at the request of the families of the victims.”
“In all honesty, they didn’t want us to release anything,” he said. “But we have a commitment to transparency.”
He stated that many of the victims and their family members “expressed a desire that nothing get released.” But he added that the city has legal obligations to release public records, as well as an “obligation for transparency to the community.”
“Our commitment to transparency is rooted in a desire for this community to continue to trust their police department,” Smiley said.
“While PPD’s work has concluded, the city remains in regular contact with the FBI, which continues its investigation,” Kristy dosReis, Providence’s chief public information officer for public safety, wrote in an email to The Herald.
She added that the city currently does not plan to release any additional video footage.
“We believe the video released today provides the most comprehensive view of the response and fulfills the public records requests related to body-worn camera footage, while respecting the privacy of the victims,” she wrote.
No visible video footage released depicted law enforcement inside Barus and Holley Room 166, where the shooting occurred.
“Since the incident, the city has encouraged the release of as much information to the public as possible,” the city’s public records page reads. “The city values transparency, while also ensuring that the release of records complies with Rhode Island law, including exemptions intended to protect the privacy of victims and witnesses.”
According to the page, the city has received “numerous” Access to Public Records Act requests.
At Monday’s press conference, Smiley stated that the records released constitute the city’s “full response” to those requests.
Michelle Bi is a metro editor covering City Hall & Crime and State Politics & Justice. She is a sophomore from Oak Park, CA and studies English and IAPA. In her free time, you can find her playing guitar, the LA Times crossword or one of her 115 Spotify playlists.
