Three students who were injured on campus during the Dec. 13 shooting are suing the University in three separate lawsuits over security failures, citing inadequate security measures and a failure to act on repeated warnings about the shooter’s suspicious behavior.
“Brown’s conduct, as alleged herein, was so willful, reckless and wicked as to amount to criminality, which, for the good of society and as a warning to Brown, ought to be punished by an award of punitive damages over and above that provided in an award of compensatory damages,” one of the complaints reads.
All three lawsuits were filed last Thursday in Rhode Island Superior Court, and the students are seeking more than $10,000 in damages each for medical expenses as well as physical and mental distress. The students were not identified in the documents, and were referred to as “J. Doe No. 1, 2 and 3.”
According to University Spokesperson Brian Clark, “Brown is reviewing the complaints carefully and promptly.”
“Out of respect for the privacy interests of the plaintiffs, we have no details to share on the merits of the litigation at this time,” Clark wrote in an email to The Herald. “We will respond as appropriate through the legal process.”
On Dec. 13, two students were killed, and nine others were injured during a shooting on campus. The shooting occurred in Barus and Holley during a final exam review session for ECON 0110: “Principles of Economics.” The suspect was found dead in New Hampshire on Dec. 18.
The complaint alleges negligence, citing inadequate security measures and surveillance at Barus and Holley, a failure in training University personnel to respond to the threat and accusations that the University failed to take reasonable action after receiving specific reports of the presence of an individual who would later be identified as the shooter presence in the area.
Derek Lisi — a custodian who works in the Engineering Research Center, which is connected to Barus and Holley, and who was referred to in the lawsuit — said he saw the individual later identified as the shooting suspect in the building for weeks before Dec. 13, with his last sighting of him being during the first week of December.
The lawsuit also cites that in transcripts of videos the suspect recorded before his death, he claimed he had been planning the shooting for six semesters and had had “plenty of opportunities” to target Brown earlier.
Lisi said that on Dec. 6, he witnessed the individual looking into classrooms and moving quickly without speaking to anyone. When Lisi reported his observations to a staff member for Event Staff Services — a third party security vendor employed by the University for campus events — the staff member did not investigate further, he said. ESS President David Madonna wrote in a January email to The Herald that “the individual was told to provide that information to Brown Police,” but Lisi said the ESS member did not tell him to report the individual to the Department of Public Safety.
Consulting firm Teneo is currently conducting external security assessments in the aftermath of the shooting, the University announced in January. In March, officials from the firm shared that the review would include community feedback, a risk exposure assessment, a review of the University’s security program and the creation of a plan to improve security and safety on campus.
One of the complaints filed declares that Brown had a duty to the plaintiff and community members to ensure that “reasonable and effective security, access control, monitoring and emergency response measures were implemented for the protection of those lawfully present.”
In a February interview with The Herald, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 stated that the University did not have mandatory active shooter training on campus but that training could be conducted upon request. The Department of Public Safety and Emergency Management’s most recent hostile intruder training was conducted around six months prior to the shooting.
A court hearing is scheduled for May 5.
This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.
Roma Shah is a section editor covering University Hall & Higher Education and Admissions & Financial Aid. She's a sophomore from Morgan Hill, CA studying neuroscience. In her free time, she can be found doing puzzles, hiking or curled up with a book.
