The Brown University campus is full once again after a winter break that started on a tragic note.
“It doesn’t quite feel normal, but definitely it does feel like home,” said Sam Marcus, a sophomore from Storrs.
“What’s really hard was knowing that coming back to Brown would be day one after it was frozen in place,” said Michael Citarella, a junior from Trumbull.
In December, police say Claudio Neves Valente opened fire in the campus’s engineering building, taking the lives of two students, and injuring nine.
We spoke with Citarella and Marcus last month, who told us about their experience in respective ten-hour lockdowns in the dining hall and a dorm room while the shooting unfolded.
With students back Wednesday, the memorial outside of the Barus and Holley building has grown. As the semester begins, students are even offering each other free hugs for support.
“What’s really nice is that there’s this community, but then there’s also the space for everyone to process things and deal with them in their own way and whatever is best for each person,” said Marcus.
In the wake of the shooting, Brown says the number of officers on every shift has increased, that police are conducting frequent patrols, and they’ve added new panic buttons, blue lights, and cameras.
“I’ve seen security guards at a few buildings that are normally more open, or people go to, and there’s just added police cars around campus, but in general, campus feels like it did, which I was hoping it would be. People want normalcy,” Citarella said.
The shooting is considered a seminal event to the city, according to Mayor Brett Smiley.
“This will be something that we talk about for decades to come. And it will change how we think about physical security in some buildings,” Smiley said.
The students tell us professors are reminding them of their healing resources and are starting classes with moment of silence.
“We can’t let something like this define us, because if we let it define us, then they kind of get what they wanted,” said Marcus.
“We are going to be okay. And we are going to keep fighting forward with this,” Citarella said. Citarella is the co-lead for the Brown University chapter of Students Demand Action, the anti-gun violence organization chapter at Brown. He says their first meeting since the shooting is Wednesday night
