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The Lead with Jake Tapper
New Enhanced Video Of Person Of Interest In Brown Univ. Shooting; LA District Atty: Nick Reiner Faces Two First Degree Murder Charges, No Decision Yet On Whether To Seek Death Penalty. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired December 16, 2025 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATE BEDINGFIELD, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR: -- that regime change is ultimately the goal. And she herself said if that's the case, then Congress has to be involved. And when you hear members of Congress say we weren't given full information, we didn't get the full scope of a briefing that we should have received on this, and there are open questions about the legality of what Trump and the secretary of Defense are doing, that's -- that should be of concern to everybody.
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Well, and of course, the idea that they couldn't put out this video, not plausible because we are regularly seeing pieces of the video. They're just picking which ones.
All right, guys, thanks very much for being here. Jake Tapper is standing by for "The Lead." Hi, Jake.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Thanks, Kasie. We'll see you back in The Arena" tomorrow.
[17:00:36]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. Brand new images just in four days after that deadly shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, police also released this new photograph giving us the closest look yet of this person of interest. The FBI describes this man, this person of interest, as approximately 5'8 with a stocky build. He appears to be wearing a dark colored cross, body bag, hat, mask, gloves, a two toned coat and dark pants.
These new images after Saturday's deadly mass shooting that killed two students and injured nine others. This photo is the latest in a lineup of images only giving the public a glimpse of this person wanted in connection with the attack. With the actual killer still unidentified and free, fear, of course, continues to grip Brown University and the surrounding community. In just moments, authorities are expected to give the latest update in the investigation. We will bring that to you live when they do.
In the meantime, let's go straight to CNN's Danny Freeman, who is in Providence, Rhode Island, where officials are set to hold this news conference. Danny, a short time ago, the Providence police released this enhanced video of the person of interest. Walk us through what we're seeing here.
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You got it, Jake. And again for our viewers, just a moment, we're expecting these officials to come out in brief, so I'll sit down when and if that happens momentarily. But to talk about those videos, Jakes, those videos really detail the two hours leading up to when that shooting happened back on Saturday afternoon. And it shows a lot of different angles of this person of interest that local law enforcement and federal law enforcement have been searching for four days now.
The video is very interesting because you see this person of interest wandering the neighborhood just outside of where that shooting took place just outside of Brown University. He seems to at times be acting erratically. There's one video where you see him crossing the street. He then looks over his shoulder repeatedly.
There's another video where it appears that he's pacing up and down a street at one point putting his hands behind his back. Notably also something that stood out to us, Jake, is there are some videos in this new batch that was just released, some videos where this person of interest appears to be wearing gloves, where he appears to be wearing a satchel or a bag across his chest, and other videos where he has no gloves and no satchel or bag across his chest. So you can bet that's going to be some of the things that we're going to be asking about when these officials come to the podium in just a little bit. I'll also note that they were testing the screen up and down. So we're expecting the officials to walk us through perhaps some of this new video that was released, again, just in the past hour or so.
Now, Jake, I'll just describe to you a little bit about what we were seeing on campus, because we were on Brown's campus all day today, and it's still very active, perhaps not as active as it was over the weekend or yesterday on Monday. But we saw canines out there still sniffing the grounds. We also saw ATF agents going door to door, still canvassing the neighborhood. Clearly, the goal is to try and continue to find more surveillance video like the video that was released today, to piece together not just what we've seen mostly so far, what was leading up to the shooting, but also what came after the shooting. The FBI released a little bit of video as well, which pointed to some of the moments post shooting.
That video is a little bit hard to decipher, but you can see there are police cars that are responding to Brown University when this scene has taken place. And you can see a circle of the person of interest walking across the street, seemingly right past police officers as he's walking away from the scene. So there's still a number of questions that we have, a number of questions that we're hoping to have answered in this press conference right now. But make no mistake, this is the most amount of video and images we've seen so far. And I believe it's starting right now, Jake, I'm going to sit down.
TAPPER: All right. Danny Freeman in Providence, Rhode Island. Let's listen in. MAYOR BRETT SMILEY, (D) PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: Good evening, everybody. It's Providence Mayor Brett Smiley with another update today. In just a moment, Colonel Perez will give an update on the investigation, including a video that was released.
[17:05:07]
That video was released just a little while ago. If you are here and do not have that video, you can see Camille (ph) or Julie and they can send that to you while we're reporting. Additionally, Camille and Julie are your contact to be on the press distribution list to be advised of future announcements. At this time, I'll introduce Providence Police Chief Colonel Oscar Perez.
COL. OSCAR PEREZ, JR., CHIEF OF POLICE, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: Thank you, Mayor.
As well as the mayor stated, we're about to show you a video, if we can have the IT officer.
Thank you, Joe.
So, as the mayor stated, if you don't have these videos, please let us know. And the reason we have shown these videos, there's a purpose, right? So as you can see, they're enhanced photos, there's enhanced video footage. And so we're asking the public to ensure that they can see them. They can see here that you want to focus on the body movements, the way the person move their arms, the way they carry their weight.
I think those are important movement patterns that may help you identify this individual, which is extremely important. Another thing that we're going to ask the public is if you have any type of camera system, including Teslas, in your property. And this video that you just saw behind me, it all comes from the residential block of Waterman Avenue, Power Ives and Hope Street. And it's those residential areas that we're asking the public to look, if you have any camera systems or any Teslas, like I mentioned, that you look at that footage and that you can reach out to us and please provide us anything that you have. And we're asking you to go back at least a week to do that.
And the reason for that is because on Saturday night, the date off, we actually learned that this individual was in that neighborhood at around 10:30 in the morning. We also know in this profession that many criminals will case out an area weeks and days prior. And so it's important for us to ensure that we can have you look at that and help us. And the reason for that is because our offices, our agents, are looking at terabytes of data, and we're looking for a moment that is shorter than this -- shorter than somebody taking a breath. It's incredible hard work to do that.
And so we're asking the public to assist us with that. The other thing is the tip center. We have been receiving hundreds of tips. However, we're about close to 200 actionable tips that we still conduct investigations on, which is incredible and is important. Again, keep in mind that this video footage is extremely important to us.
And one more thing here that as a reminder, please remember that the number that we need you to call is 401-272-3121, as well as the link that the FBI provided, which is fbi.gov, G-O-V, Brown University Shootings. Thank you very much.
SMILEY: Thank you, Colonel. Now we'll hear from FBI Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks.
[17:10:07]
TED DOCKS, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, BOSTON FIELD OFFICE: Thank you, Mayor. And good evening. My name is Ted Docks. I'm a Special Agent in charge of FBI Boston.
On the heels of this tragedy, the strength and resilience of the people of Providence is a powerful reminder of the bonds that unite us. The men and women of the FBI, along with the law enforcement team standing before you, carry the victims with us as we work around the clock to bring the individual responsible for their injuries and deaths to justice. Today, the FBI is working with Brown University to do everything we can to provide services to those impacted by this horrific shooting. The FBI has almost 30 victim specialists, special agents and analysts from all over the country who are here in Providence to support our survivors, the victims and their loved ones.
The FBI Victim Services Response Team is one of the many specialized FBI assets that have been deployed here to assist. The toll of this type of tragedy takes on victims and their families is immeasurable. And we ask everyone to respect their privacy at this difficult time. Thank you.
SMILEY: Thank you, Special Agent. Next, Attorney General Peter Neronha.
PETER NERONHA, RHODE ISLAND ATTORNEY GENERAL: Thank you, Mayor. I don't have a lot to add other than that from my perspective, I think the investigation in a case like this, which is challenging one, it's going really well. The -- on the third floor of this building, there are dozens of agents, detectives, led by Providence police, prosecutors from my office, working to put together. And what you're seeing is just a portion of what they're working on right now. So they are literally, because I have seen at least part of it.
The shift changes late at night. I think Rhode Islanders should take confidence in their work. They are veterans of what they do. They're smart, they're professional, and they're getting the resources from the mayor and the governor that they need, the state police as well to get this job done. And I'm confident they're going to be able to do that.
Just need a little bit of patience, as hard as it is to say that in this really horrible context. Thank you.
SMILEY: Thank you, General. Governor Dan McKee for an update now.
GOV. DAN MCKEE, (D) RHODE ISLAND: Thanks, Mayor.
And right off the top, we're just making sure that we're -- the state is supporting Providence and Brown University and then working with the FBI as well as our state police and the attorney general to continue to provide information to the people in the state of Rhode Island. My information is that recently we -- this morning, today, we've met with all the university presidents in the state of Rhode Island. We know that we want to start a working group that will talk about enhancing the safety issues. And you'll see shortly that we'll be doing the same thing in terms of the mental health issues, and I think that's important. As I'm out and about, we're hearing a great deal of anxiety coming from families and students and the general public.
And that's one of the reasons why our state police has supported the Providence schools with presence as school begins and school ends in support of the mayor and his efforts to support the schools.
SMILEY: Thank you, Governor. We're also joined tonight by Brown University president, Christina Paxson.
CHRISTINA PAXSON, BROWN UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: Thank you, mayor.
I want to begin by thanking the many law enforcement agencies who continue to work around the clock on this case. It's very impressive. I also want to thank the mayor and the governor for their continued support.
The primary point that I wanted to address before we get to questions is that Brown is deeply committed to the safety and security and well- being of our community. And I've been deeply saddened to see people questioning that. We understand that as time goes on, there is maybe a natural instinct to assign responsibility for a tragic event like this. Anxiety and fear is very natural, but the shooter is responsible. Horrific gun violence took the lives of these students and hospitalized others. And it's deeply sad and tragic that schools across the country are targets of violence, Brown is no exception.
We are cooperating fully with law enforcement. And again, we thank the multiple agencies that have been working so hard day and night with increased patrols to keep our campus safe and to investigate this horrific shooting. Thank you.
SMILEY: Thank you, President Paxson. I'll give a couple updates on behalf of the city, and then we'll take your questions.
First, as has been discussed many times, we continue to have enhanced police presence throughout the city of Providence to help bolster the confidence and provide a sense of additional security to our residents.
[17:15:07]
Today we were aided by neighboring municipalities in Central Falls and North Providence with supplemental officers. We're grateful to our neighbors for sticking up and standing up with Providence. The state police continues to be an incredible partner, and I thank the governor and Colonel Weaver (ph) for their partnership.
Providence public schools remain in session. Friday is the last day of school before winter break. Spent some time at our schools again today. As has been the case in the past, the schools in the area of Brown are having regular police presence. And with -- and because of the assistance of the Rhode Island state police, we've been able to provide additional police presence and coverage to other schools in Providence, and we thank them for that.
When I was at one of our elementary schools this morning, the faculty were having a brief meeting before kids started to arrive. And in discussion with some of the teachers, I asked how they were doing. One of the teachers said what I think a lot of us are feeling, she said, you know, it's hard, but I'm putting on a good face for the kids. We need to be here for them. And I think that's how a lot of our residents feel right now, which is that we are taking very tentative steps forward, but we're doing it for one another.
And so I do want to thank our educators at this time. They're being asked to go to school right now. Our principals are asked to be going to school right now for the sake of the families and the kids. And at that same school, there was a second grader literally skipping to the front door because he's a second grader and he doesn't know everything that's going on in this scary world right now. And so the strength of the adults has allowed that little kid to skip to school this morning.
And so I want to thank all of my fellow residents of Providence for putting on a strong face for the sake of others at this time.
There were questions yesterday, and so I'll also just give a brief update on the health status of the survivors. If folks will recall, there had been eight hospitalized, one has since been discharged. There had been nine. Eight hospitalized, one has since been discharged. The seven that remain in the hospital, one is in critical status, one -- five in critical but stable status.
Although healthcare providers report that they are improving and one in stable status. Those are the seven. One in critical, five in critical but stable, one in stable status, and one discharged since the last time we made comments about their safety and recovery from the podium. Now we'll open it up to questions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Foreign Language)
PEREZ: So the question was, if I could just repeat what stated earlier in English, as far as the -- what occurred here, the reasons of the video and what was requesting from the public. (Foreign Language)
TAPPER: So just to give an update, if you're just tuning in to The Lead, the Brown law -- Brown University and Providence, Rhode Island law enforcement community is giving an update on the new video they have released of the person of interest in the shooting. They also gave an update on the eight individuals who had been hospitalized in the Saturday shooting in which two individuals were killed.
Of the eight who were hospitalized on Saturday, one has been discharged. Of the seven remaining in the hospital, one is in critical condition, five are in condition that is considered critical but stable, and one is in stable condition. Oftentimes in these shootings, we focus on the killed and not necessarily the wounded. Let's listen him now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you believe he was doing there at that time?
PEREZ: Correct. And we have -- we have video footage of that and we believe that he was actually casing out this area to commit the crime. There is no -- that's a pattern that criminals do and that's what he was doing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief, yesterday the FBI described the person that we've been seeing in these images as a suspect. Today the language seems to be person of interest. Can you clarify? Do you believe that this person that we're looking at is your shooter, is your shooting suspect?
PEREZ: Definitely he's still a person of interest and we're still investigating that to be able to get that answer. But we strongly believe definitely that's suspect in the incident and a person of interest.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But an MIT professor died earlier this morning from (inaudible), does that incident have any potential connection to this (inaudible)?
[17:20:02]
PEREZ: Now that we know of, no.
SMILEY: In the back, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Colonel, I just want to ask you, yesterday we were wondering about this person's age. Now that we've seen more video, again, a couple of days ago, I know you're saying twenties, some talking about thirties, but just to help people at home, people have seen this video, do profilers or anyone in your department have any better understanding a closer idea on his age? And the second part of that question is, can you not confirm that he has no connection as a past student or as a past staff member at the university?
PEREZ: So the first question, I'll tell you that the first, when it happened on Saturday night, obviously it was chaos and there was a witness that stated that he might have been in his 30s. At this point, we're still just looking at the picture. We haven't identified ages or anything to that point. And as far as whether he's a Brown student or anything, we don't have any of those answers. No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Colonel, in one of the new videos prior to the shooting is a person of interest to see him running, at this point do you have any inkling why he's running?
PEREZ: Sorry. Yes, we're still investigating that, but we do know definitely that he was cased in the area. And again, that's what criminals do prior to committing a crime.
SMILEY: Chris.
CHRIS: It appears that the FBI and the (inaudible), according to what I'm looking at online, look like they're releasing separate videos at separate times. Are you guys still coordinating or how are they doing?
PEREZ: Well, you've got to understand that there's a lot of people upstairs, as the general stated earlier. And we're trying to ensure that we do this right job and collect the evidence that we need. And we want to make sure that everybody has the -- especially you guys in the public. One thing that we want to make sure is that the community is safe, well informed and stay confident in the work that we're doing. So, yes, there was a video that was released, but we also were working on another video.
And the purpose of this press conference is to ensure that the public can see those videos showing movements. Like I stated earlier, the way a person walks, the way weight they carry their weight. That's the importance. And so our video that -- I'm sorry, the second video that we showed was the one that we needed to show the public.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just --
SMILEY: Yes, please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- in terms of cameras inside and outside the engineering building, do -- are those working at all? And if so, why not release some of those videos?
PEREZ: So the video that we showed you came from inside the building and that's all we had at the moment. That's all we have at this moment. Correct.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Inside of the engineering building though? PEREZ: I'm sorry?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's from the outside of the building.
PEREZ: Outside.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On the outside. So, do you have video from inside the engineering?
PEREZ: Yes. Both inside and outside. I'm sorry, just outside. That's all we have. Not inside, no. I'm sorry, just outside.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are they going to be released anytime soon unless from (inaudible) building? PEREZ: That was released already. That was the outside of the
building. We released that.
NERONHA: Yes. Let me just -- let me just jump here and clarify. OK, so there is -- you know, for those of you who've been with us before, and I understand not all of you have been, there is video inside the building. There are cameras inside the building. What we have released to you are videos of this person of interest.
So I want to be clear because later on there may be other videos that get released in the course of a prosecution, likely will be at some point. They show things like chaos after the shooting. What they don't show is the -- is this person of interest. And so that's why we haven't released that -- those videos. OK.
What you do have are videos from a camera outside of the Brown building and other cameras from around the neighborhood that the good men and women in law enforcement located and have put together in this montage. And to your question, Chris, there are two versions of that video. But the bottom line is, as the -- as I understand it, they depict the same thing. And number one, and number two, the agencies are working very, very well together, as I think the special agent in charge would agree.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Attorney General --
SMILEY: You've got a follow up and then we're going here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just to clarify, there's no clear video of the suspect inside the engineering building. That's all. PEREZ: I just said. That's correct.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, can I just ask as well further to the -- to the surveillance footage that you have received. I've been here since Saturday speaking to people who are living in the residential buildings around and in the businesses. And many of the store clerks there have told me it wasn't until this morning that the police have actually come to ask them if they had any -- anything that they could offer, any CCTV or any evidence that they could provide. Why has it taken three days for these people to have the police come to them for asking for assistance?
PEREZ: As I stated earlier, it's a residential block that includes a lot of homes, a lot of different camera footage, and it takes a lot of work in the sense that there's a lot of terabytes that we're looking at in order to be able to analyze it, pull what we need. And sometimes it's just a moment that we need, and it's almost shorter than somebody taking a breath. So it takes a lot of work. And then so once that leads us to a next location, and so we move strategically, we have to pull the video, download it, analyze it, investigate it, and then move forward. Takes time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Attorney General --
NERONHA: Yes, I just want to jump in there, too, because I think I want to clarify in a sense what the chief is saying, that you start in the grid. In the first instance, it's closest to Brown. It takes a lot of work to canvas that area, and then you build out as you learn more about the path of travel. So it's entirely possible that tomorrow we'll be canvassing places that we haven't canvassed yet because we're working out with the resources that we have.
[17:25:08]
SMILEY: Dan, go ahead.
DAN: We have a question and a follow up, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
DAN: My first question, Attorney General, to follow up on my colleague, this is the question I asked on Saturday night which is, so there's cameras in the hallway, but they don't show the suspect or Brown is not releasing them or you're not releasing them to us, how does a multi-million dollar school --
NERONHA: Yes.
DAN: -- do not have a bunch of cameras in the hallway?
NERONHA: So let me -- let me try to explain that. So as President Paxson knows, there was a major addition put on that building within the last five years or so. That is a modern building attached to a much older one in the back. So it doesn't come as a surprise to me at least that there are cameras in the newer part of the building and there is video footage. OK.
So there's the back part of the building, old part and front part, new part. The shooting occurs in the old part, towards the back, out towards Hope Street. In that older part of the building, there are fewer if any cameras in that location, I imagine because it's an older building. So as students are fleeing the area of the shooting into the new part of the building, there are cameras in that -- in that brand new building that show that chaos. But the only -- but the only -- the only video of the -- of the presumed, anticipated, suspected, however you want to define it, a person of interest, you have it.
We would release it if we thought it would be helpful in identifying this subject because we are relying on the press and public to help get us there. There would be no reason for us to hold it back. We're looking for the best image we can.
SMILEY: Dan got a follow up.
DAN: Attorney General, thank you for explaining that because it really clarifies it. Although I'm sure some people watching would think a multi-million dollar school with a huge endowment could afford new cameras in an old building. That's my statement.
Here's my question. If he's casing that area, Colonel, like you said, he had an intended target, which speaks to the motive. Did he have a target to kill one of the two people that were killed?
PEREZ: We're still investigating that, Dan, and it's something that we're trying to get the answers as well. So.
SMILEY: Patrick. Patrick.
PATRICK: Yes. For President Paxson, have you too related? Have you reviewed any communications to Brown before the shooting that revealed any kind of threat of any kind of anything with Brown? And then since the shooting, I believe some web pages for students or faculty have been taken down. Is that a response to any external threats to anyone in the community?
PAXSON: We have been working very closely with law enforcement to provide them with all of the internal to Brown information that they need to do this investigation. It's their investigation. They're the professionals. So we're providing information. We're not in the job of reviewing it for them.
I know nothing about webpages being taken down as part of this. It's the first I've heard of it.
SMILEY: In the back. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want people to feel safe, can you say this person of interest is no longer in Providence, no longer in Rhode Island? Are they out of the state? Do we have any sense at all?
SMILEY: I can't speak to the investigation and if there's -- if there's a follow up for either the general or the colonel, I'm sure they'd be happy to answer it. But I'll restate what I've said several times now, which remains true as another day passes. Since the initial call came in at 4:05 p.m. on Saturday, we have not received, and this is now updated with another 24 hours have passed, a single credible, specific threat to the area, to the city related to this event, and as far as I know, to the state. And I know that this is a question that many people are struggling with. And it's difficult conversations that I've had with many, many of my constituents, including a very anxious parent this morning.
The best information we have is that there is no credible, actionable, specific threat that has occurred since Saturday. And in order to enhance and ensure the safety of our community, we have stepped up law enforcement efforts throughout the city in a precautionary measure and an abundance of caution to try to give comfort and confidence to people who have to take the steps forward in their daily lives, who have to take their kids to school, who have to get to work. And that is -- that is the honest answer and the best answer we have at this time as the days continue to pass.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Mayor, with that, can you tell us where you believe he may be? Is he in the state? Is he in the area?
SMILEY: So that question was asked as well. So, Colonel, I'll let you answer that.
[17:30:04]
PEREZ: Yes, we'll continue to investigate that. That's not -- listen, we're looking for the same answers as the mayor stated. We haven't really received any credible info as far as any -- any other calls of that nature. But I'll tell you that we have enhanced our presence in a part of the city. And we're using every resource we have. And every call that comes in, we respond to it immediately. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pat?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you working with any neighboring states?
SMILEY: It's Pat, so we're working our way across the room here. Pat?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pat, we're co-leaders of (ph) Radio. In a case involving a hit and run accident in the vicinity of Brown University that was litigated by the office of Attorney General Neronha in 2023, Brown University police detective John Remke (ph) stated that the university maintained several thousand video surveillance cameras and license plate readers on Brown University campus and surrounding campus.
Now, this is in addition, obviously, to the Providence Police Data Center. Attorney General Neronha, your department litigated that case, essentially giving your department a thorough understanding of the landscape. Why isn't there more video or metadata? And were those cameras all operational?
NERONHA: Yes, I can't speak to what was operational or wasn't. But I will say this, that, and I've answered this question a few times today, and I'll try to do my best to answer it again. So, somebody reported, it might have been the Globe, that there are 800 cameras or so on the campus. It might have been the Globe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twelve hundred.
NERONHA: Twelve hundred.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
NERONHA: But this building is on the very edge of the campus. If you know, I know that building well. I had two sons who went, spent a good chunk of their lives there. It's at the very edge of the campus. It's not in the heartland of the campus. It's not the green. And there are several greens. It's not any of the three greens as I remember them. So it's right on the edge of the campus, and where the shooting took place, is very -- is at the very edge of that building on the edge of the campus.
And so, as those of you who know Providence know, you are very quickly into a residential neighborhood, which is why the video footage you're seeing of this defendant's, excuse me, wrong word. Person of interest movements, excuse me, are pre and post shooting are in that neighborhood. So, the building is on the edge of the Brown campus, where the shooting took place, is at the edge of that building, and then you're very quickly into a residential neighborhood.
There -- there is no footage, I can -- I'll try to say it again. There is no footage that depicts this individual that would be useful in identifying him that we have not released. And frankly, the not very helpful quality of the initial footage that our standard is pretty low. If it -- we -- if we thought it was at all helpful, we would have and will release it.
SMILEY: John.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Follow up question, real quick follow up question.
SMILEY: Hold on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does Brown University or the federal government employ sting ray or any other mass surveillance equipment in or around the Brown University campus? And again, remember that the Brown University detective said that these applied, and said these cameras extend in the neighborhood. So the other question is, does mass surveillance by Brown University end at campus borders, or is there anything in the Thayer Street community downtown area, or anywhere else in the community?
SMILEY: You asked me this question last night, Pat, and I don't have any knowledge of those systems.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not asking you, I'm asking the Attorney General or the FBI.
NERONHA: OK. Yes, there -- there is no mass surveillance. Well, first of all, I'm not sure what mass surveillance means, Pat. But -- but by any standard, I wouldn't describe it as mass surveillance by Brown University. There are cameras that they have in place in an effort to protect their students. And unfortunately here, given location, given age of building, there -- we just don't have additional video footage. I wish we -- trust me, I wish we did, but we don't, and so we're doing everything we can to find additional footage from the neighborhoods, reinvent his path of travel, and continue to canvas for either people who may have seen him, encountered him, or who have video evidence that could supplement what you already have.
SMILEY: John.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a question for Agent Docks of the FBI. Agent, so this happened Saturday night, and then last night you have an MIT professor. I know the question was asked, but this has to work. What we see on this video is seemingly someone very cautious, almost like a professional, kind of like the D.C. pipe bomber that is circling several times. What information do you have that MIT Jewish professor of Brookline, would basically execute? Do you have any intelligence how that person was operating that?
DOCKS: You know, it's -- it's interesting, Colonel Noble reached out to me very early, their lead on that particular incident. He made sure that if there's any intelligence, any information in which is connected to what we have here, that they would share that. At this time, there seems to be no connection as it relates to that particular incident.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What, as a FBI agent, follow up, what -- what do you see in that individual who's walking? For example, you know, he's walking with his arms behind his back, and I've seen people talk about, that's -- that's not like a young kid on a campus, that scene where he's, you know, walking, that's something more, either European or Middle Eastern. What -- what do you see so far in this video that we see of the suspect, or person of interest?
[17:35:22]
DOCKS: You know, I think the Colonel articulated in a sense what they see. I say from an FBI perspective, we have individuals that can hypothesize on that, our behavioral analysis unit, and those type of individuals. I will say, I would be, I think, getting a little ahead of things, if I give you kind of an inference of what I see in that particular behavior. It can mean a lot of things to be truly transparent with you, and to get into the mind of an individual that would commit such a heinous act. That's a place in which I don't want to go right now. I'm not sure what was going on in that particular individual's head at that time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you would agree, this individual seems very calculating.
SMILEY: Brian, in the back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Paxson, clearly, as you stated, the shooter is to blame. But you're hearing a lot of questions about the lack of cameras. You mentioned, you've heard some of the criticism. What is your response to parents as well, who said they pay a lot of money for their kids to go to Brown, they're questioning the cameras, why the sirens didn't go off? Do you believe that Brown had the precautions and safety measures in place before the shooting that were appropriate and necessary?
PAXSON: I do. And in fact, I'm glad you mentioned the sirens, because I think there's been some misinformation about that. We have two security systems that we can activate in a time of an emergency. One is a system that sends out text messages, phone calls, e-mails, and it was activated within minutes of the incident. Those messages went out to 20,000 individuals, so all alerts.
We also have a system of sirens. There are three sirens placed across campus. Those get activated when there is a broad scale emergency, and we want people to rush into buildings. In the case of an active shooter, activating that system could have caused people to rush into Beresford Hall. So that's not a system that we would ever use in the case of an active shooter, so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just to follow up, it does say on the website when it was launched that it is for an active shooter.
PAXSON: It depends on the circumstances and where the active shooter would be. But you don't want to ever get people rushing into buildings that might be the site of an active shooting. That's my understanding.
SMILEY: Go ahead, sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any evidence that suggests that the victim Ella Cook may have been targeted?
DOCKS: No, not at this point.
NERONHA: Yes, I agree.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to ask a question over here. You mentioned you have over 200 hits.
SMILEY: Miss, we're working our way across. I'm sorry. Let's go ahead, Tom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Attorney General Neronha, what are the characteristics of the guy in the first video that makes you believe that he's also the same guy in the video that was released yesterday and in the follow up for President Paxson?
NERONHA: Yes, look, I think that that is an analysis. That has been done by the agents and the detectives. And a lot of factors are going into that. A lot of it is being able to, as I just saw upstairs, a really terrific job of tracing movements. And when you put movements and times together, it's easy to, easier perhaps is the best word, to identify them as the same person. Now, look, look, there are no absolutes in any investigation, and I'm not about to make absolute statements in this one either, but that's the general reasoning for why we've concluded that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a follow up to President Paxson. Right now, school break is pretty much underway for a lot of university students. Have you met with your police department and board of trustees on how you're going to secure the university going into the second semester? Are you making any changes to the way you guys operate?
PAXSON: Well, right now, we have been -- the campus is emptying out first, as you said, but we still have staff and faculty and graduate students and international students who will remain on campus during the winter break, so it's still open. And right now, our focus is on getting as many sort of boots on the ground, people in cars. We have been really fortunate that the city and other municipalities have people who are helping us, people from the state. We also have security that we brought in from outside. I think over 60 people today were patrolling the campus.
I was on campus walking around, and I couldn't turn around without seeing a security person. So we will continue that for as long as we think it's necessary, and right now, the campus feels very secure. Thank you.
[17:40:01]
SMILEY: Steve, I'm sorry, I missed you earlier.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it's OK. If I were -- if someone were -- Providence residents were to see someone match the description of the person of interest, how would they be sure that they weren't dealing with a federal ICE agent?
SMILEY: The tip line that we've been providing throughout the last several days, 401-272-3121, that call comes in here, and is answered in this building with Providence Police professionals and our partners at the FBI. That is who's manning the phones, that is who's processing the tips, and we are encouraging anybody who has relevant information to please use that tip line. And they should know that that's who's on the other end of the phone. And again, if you have relevant information or information that you think might help us with this investigation, we encourage you to call.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are there any things that can be differentiated between this person and an ICE agent who would be masked up walking through town and not be approached by the police in the same way this person was?
SMILEY: Again, we've worked really hard to build the trust of our community here in Providence. And I'm telling you that that phone number, 401-272-3121, rings in this building and is answered by Providence police and or FBI. Those are the agencies that are processing, running down, and investigating any relevant information. And we urge folks, if you have relevant information, to please use that phone number. Luke.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the colonel, do you have any indication as to whether all the interviews of the students in the classroom were completed in a very through line that you gleaned from those interviews?
PEREZ: We're still conducting those interviews as we speak.
SMILEY: Go ahead, please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You mentioned that you have no idea if the shooter is still in the area. Have you been working with any law enforcement agencies in other states that are nearby?
PEREZ: Yes, we work with every municipality here in the state of Rhode Island. And obviously, every, Massachusetts, obviously, we have conversations with them as well. But the majority of the law enforcement that we're working with right now is our own, you know, nearby municipalities, the Rhode Island State Police, and every agency that you can think of, federal agency, in this building.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you working with agencies in Connecticut?
PEREZ: We're in conversations with them, but no, they're not here, no.
NERONHA: Let me just jump in here. What's really critical first is that we identify who the person is. You know, once we identify who this person is, I believe we'll be able to locate him. It's very hard to hide in this country. But until you have a name, which is why we're working so hard to identify him, it doesn't -- it's not particularly productive to reach out to law enforcement across the country as to who you're looking for, because we don't yet know who we're looking for.
So that's why we have to identify the person. Once we've identified him, you know, we'll know more information about where he's from, and who his friends are, and where he might go. So those are the things that we can do once we have an identification of this person. And that's why the team now is laser focused on identifying who this person is in this video.
SMILEY: Amanda.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have some questions for the chief.
SMILEY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just following up on another question that was just asked, I'm glad to hear that some of the students are beginning to recover. How many of the students who are inside that building and also outside, how have detectives been able to interview and have they elaborated on anything that this man said? Allegedly he yelled something in the classroom before opening fire. Did he appear to be wearing a bulletproof vest, and that's why he appeared hoarse (ph)?
PEREZ: It's a good amount of interviews that have been conducted. We have re-interviewed several people, and so I just want to tell you that's part of the investigation right now. We'll continue to investigate, and we'll continue to speak with them. And like the general stated, listen, we're just trying to build the case here and make sure that we can move forward and continue to progress as we're doing, but the interviews are still being conducted.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But chief, they haven't elaborated exactly in what this man, if he did say anything, what he was yelling.
PEREZ: Yes, no, I don't have that info, no.
SMILEY: Straight back, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we know about the path of the shooter as they left there in Somalia, where do we lose sight of him?
PEREZ: So his movements were all in that residential block that I mentioned, between Waterman Avenue, Power Street, I Street, Hope Street. It's all that block, the whole residential block that I just mentioned is where his movements were. And then obviously, that's where we lose sight of him, somewhere around Governor Street.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this after the shooting, Chief?
SMILEY: In the back there.
PEREZ: Correct.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To that point, at any point, will there be kind of like a map put out as to which cameras you're seeing him on to kind of give an idea to the public of maybe my camera's there, maybe my tesla's there, like you said?
PEREZ: Correct, yes, great point, and something that we talked about just before I came down here, to be able to release that map as well.
[17:45:01]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chief -- SMILEY: Alex.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For the girl, do the investigators know how many shots have been fired, everything you just told us about?
PEREZ: It's in our forensics unit, and obviously with the FBI as well, they're all there, and there was several rounds that were fired inside the building.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And just another follow-up, the image today of the person of interest, they have a statue. Is it known if there were additional weapons in there, or magazines, or something like that?
PEREZ: No, that's all we know, that it was just that one weapon that I mentioned the other day.
SMILEY: Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, this might be a personal event for the person, or the colonel here. I wanted to follow up on the scrubbed internet pages that were mentioned. Is that -- there's a lot of misinformation out there. There's been a lot of speculation about what those scrubbed pages might mean. Can you help fact check, give us some information today about what this, for us individuals, about one very particular individual, does it have any connection to the shooting?
PAXSON: As I said before, I have no knowledge of any scrubbed pages. You can follow up with our communications office if you want to get more information, maybe tomorrow. But this is the first I've heard of it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I did, and then they directed me to Colonel Perez, do you know anything about this?
PEREZ: I do not know.
SMILEY: Right behind, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
PEREZ: Yes, so the question is, what makes this person, one of the suspects that we have, that is a priority? And since we have released somebody already in the past, what makes this person the suspect --
TAPPER: All right. We feel like that press conference has garnered as much information as it will. Joining us now to discuss, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller, also with us, CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem.
John, we just saw this newly released enhanced video. Police asking people to pay special attention to how this man moves, his posture, the way he carries his weight. How might these details help police generate more leads?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, somebody who's familiar with him, somebody who works with him, someone who knows him, might be way more likely to recognize that than someone who passed him on the street. But we also learned some things in this press conference. I mean, the chief told us, for instance, that they tracked him moving through that neighborhood as early as 10:30 in the morning, probably a good few hours before this 4 o'clock shooting. Then they have him moving in that specific area in a circuitous route for around two hours before the shooting, sometimes walking slowly, sometimes breaking into a run.
So the chief's speculation on that point was, we believe he was casing the area, casing the right way to get in, perhaps casing the most effective getaway route, maybe even looking for where the cameras were or were not, but clearly disguised or wrapped up in such a way that whatever cameras he passed wouldn't be that productive, what we're going through now. So it raises questions about why that target, why did he approach so slowly? Obviously, he left more quickly, but what was the motive behind an attack where he went to so much pre- operational planning, surveillance, walking around to open fire in there, and then leave without leaving any apparent message about what this was for.
TAPPER: And Juliette, it's been quite a whiplash day. First, we got this new image of the person of interest from the Providence Police. More than an hour after that, the FBI released a timeline video, but then they deleted their original tweets. Then about 40 minutes after that, the Providence Police released the enhanced video that we just saw. What do you make about what seems to be a lack of coordination, all this? Did the press conference help clarify any of that?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think so. Look, this has been for 36 hours, clearly a rift between the FBI and the local and state authorities. We don't have to guess here, the Attorney General of Rhode Island was on our network saying the same. I think the FBI, its tendency, including its leadership, to get out ahead of where the investigation needs to go and where we can confirm it by tweeting stuff, by talking about things has been harmful to this investigation in terms of losing time. I just left Providence. I was with you all there.
[17:50:09]
It snowed. And that's obvious. That hurts an investigation because if anything was left behind, if there was any evidence, the elements may have gotten rid of it because he's there for four hours. I mean, you know, does he leave a piece of paper? Does a Kleenex fall out of his pocket? So I did view today's press conference not just about what John was talking about, which I think is so important because this does change the narrative of what we thought, right? I mean, he's spending a lot of time there in terms of going in, but it was also, I think, an attempt to realign the federal state local nexus that had an integration that had really had come to a head quite publicly, quite ugly and not a great look for law enforcement generally over the last 48 hours.
TAPPER: John, we're now in the fourth day of this search. How likely is it that the suspect is still in Providence, Rhode Island? And how might authorities need to expand the search zone? You heard a question from -- at that press conference about whether the murder, apparent murder of an MIT professor in Massachusetts might be related.
MILLER: Well, the worst kind of a manhunt, and I've been involved in several, is where you are in a manhunt where you don't know who the man you're hunting is, which then gets to where he could be. So that's a real challenge. And it's one of the reasons why they said, listen, look at all the time he spent here. So there are other houses that, you know, may have images in that perimeter, or even days before. We haven't gone back that far yet to see if he was casing this earlier.
They asked for people driving Teslas, where those cameras out of the front are always recording to say, did you drive by him during the time that's covered in that timeline? And it's been productive. They've got 200 viable tips. Now that means they got more calls than that, but 200 workable tips that come with a name, a sighting, a nickname, an address that they're going through.
And they've been talking to people. They've been talking to people about where were you that day? What's your alibi? They've taken DNA swabs, which tells us something else. If they're taking DNA swabs, that means they have DNA that they believe belong to the perp. But it also means it doesn't show up in the DNA system that tracks, you know, criminal DNA. So they are operating on multiple planes simultaneously to try to get to that answer.
TAPPER: While acknowledging how difficult it is to ask for patience, but still asking for patience. John Miller, Juliette Kayyem, thanks so much.
We want to take a moment, of course, to remember the two victims killed in this attack at Brown University. Ella Cook, she was vice president of the school's college Republicans. And then Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, Vice President J.D. Vance called him a brilliant young man who dreamed of being a surgeon. Nine others were injured. One is in critical condition. Five in critical but stable condition.
[17:53:10]
We do have some breaking news from Los Angeles this afternoon. In the deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner, the explosive charges that the district attorney just laid out in the murder case against the couple's 32-year-old son.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: We have some breaking news for you in our Pop Culture Lead. Last hour, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced two counts of first-degree murder charges against Nick Reiner. That's the 32-year-old son of beloved film director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, who were found dead in their home. Sunday, these charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison with no parole or the death penalty.
CNN's Josh Campbell is in Los Angeles for a news conference. Just wrap, Josh. Another disturbing detail. Authorities also say that Nick Reiner used a knife in these killings.
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That grew some detail about what the alleged murder weapon was, that this appeared to be death by stabbing. Now, authorities have not yet indicated whether they recovered that item as they process the scene. They also are not saying whether the suspect here admitted to anything. I asked the district attorney if that was part of the body of evidence that they have, a confession, and he said that's something that will come up later on in court.
But we are getting details about where this prosecution is going. As he mentioned, two counts of first-degree murder. That's important because that tells us, under California law, first-degree murder implies some type of premeditation as opposed to what's called second- degree murder.
Again, he faces two counts for the alleged death of both his mother and his father. It's important to note that premeditation doesn't have to be, you know, days or weeks in advance. It can sometimes be a very short window of time, but that is a key aspect to getting that charge.
Now, we're waiting for authorities to provide additional information about kind of the TikTok, what was happening there, what they found at that residence. We know that even if he didn't provide some type of confession, if he didn't admit to what he did, forensics would be key in an investigation like this. Authorities don't need a motive in order to prosecute someone for murder. But we're told they're gathering all that evidence that will all be part of this case.
Final point I'll note, Jake, is that we are expecting him in court at some point. He hasn't been to court yet because his attorney tells CNN that he's still waiting for what's called a medical clearance. So that initial appearance could be coming soon.
TAPPER: All right, Josh Campbell, thank you so much.
[17:59:35]
Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. And The Lead night is our Politics Lead. Shocking quotes from the White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in a Vanity Fair profile by journalist Chris Whipple, who's something of an expert on White House chiefs of staff. Among the most explosive her comments the first ever woman chief of staff of the White House, the daughter of an alcoholic, former broadcaster Pat Summerall said to Whipple, " Wiles said that Trump has, "an alcoholic's personality." He, "operates with a view that there's nothing he can't do. Nothing. Zero, nothing." Vice President J.D. Vance going from --
