One month after a tragic shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, claimed the lives of two students, the city is launching an initiative to provide financial aid to affected businesses and has announced an in-depth review of the emergency response actions taken during the event.
Businesses in the area are still dealing with the economic impact after a multi-day manhunt for the suspect that caused ripples of fear through the community.
“It’s been very slow, far too slow for us as employees, and for him as the owner as there’s no income,” explained Vanessa López, a local worker.
In response, the city of Providence is launching an initiative to offer grants to businesses, with the assistance of the Rhode Island Department of Commerce and Brown University.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley explained the details.
“We were providing $15,000, they each provided $15,000 so is a total of $45,000 going to each commerce association so they can support local businesses,” Smiley said.
In a letter, the city outlined the first responders’ actions, who arrived at the scene in under five minutes.
Smiley pointed out that “The first officer responding to the last patient making it to the emergency room was only 13 minutes, which is excellent and I am sure prevented either worse injures or even saved additional lives.”
The mayor also announced steps to hire an external consultant to review the city’s emergency response, including the actions taken by law enforcement.
“We are looking closely at what we could have done differently if, unfortunately, such a tragedy were to happen again. But truly, we are here, and our department has already implemented changes with the commanders,” said Providence Police Chief Oscar Pérez.
Apart from this review, the police department assures that it is working even more closely with universities in the city, including Brown, which has put additional measures in place as students prepare to start classes next week.
