PROVIDENCE, RI — Several hundred people gathered late Sunday, Dec. 14, on the newly fallen snow in Providence’s Lippitt Park as temperatures hovered around freezing to honor victims of the mass shooting at Brown University.
The shooting at the Ivy League school, which occurred as students took exams before winter break, shook the nearby community and university, one of the oldest in the United States. The school canceled exams and classes for the rest of the year, and the campus was quiet on Dec. 14 as a light snowfall blanketed the city.
"We gather this evening in stunned grief, in stunned shock," said Rabbi Sarah Mack of Temple Beth-El, The Providence Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. "We can use our light to kindle more light, that is how we can get through this dark moment."
The mass shooting — the latest of nearly 400 in the U.S. this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive — left at least two students dead and nine others injured.
Authorities and school officials have not publicly released the names of the victims killed in the shooting. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said that authorities, as of midday on Sunday, Dec. 14, had not yet contacted all family members because some were traveling.
