NEW YORK, Dec 19, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - US officials have identified a suspect in the shooting at Brown University that killed two students and injured several others, US media reported Thursday, in a major breakthrough in the case.

CNN cited two unnamed law enforcement officials familiar with the case as saying investigators believe they have pinpointed a suspect. CBS News reported similar information.

The shooting happened Saturday, when a man with a rifle burst into a campus building at the Ivy League college where students were taking exams.

The man opened fire, killing two students and then fleeing.

Investigators appeared to have little to go on, releasing images of a person of interest and an individual who was seen standing near that person in an effort to trace them.

Officials have given daily media updates at which they have voiced increasing frustration with the so far fruitless manhunt.

The two students killed were Ella Cook, vice president of Brown's Republican Party association, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, originally from Uzbekistan, who had hoped to become a neurosurgeon.

One survivor was in critical but stable condition, five were in stable condition, and two had been discharged from hospital, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told the briefing.

Authorities initially detained a man in connection with the shooting, but later released him.

The university has faced questions, including from President Donald Trump, about its security arrangements after it emerged that none of its 1,200 security cameras were linked to the police's surveillance system.

There have been more than 300 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot.

Attempts to restrict access to firearms still face political deadlock.