As investigators continue searching for the gunman responsible for a deadly shooting at Brown University, President Donald Trump criticized the school’s handling of campus security and suggested the institution bears responsibility for delays in identifying the suspect.
Speaking Monday during an Oval Office ceremony recognizing U.S. service members involved in border protection efforts, Trump was asked about the ongoing investigation and the FBI’s role in it. He emphasized that federal agents became involved only after the incident and pointed to the university’s own security apparatus. “This was a school problem. They had their own guards,” Trump told reporters. “They had their own police, had their own everything. But you’d have to ask that question really to the school, not to the FBI. We came in after the fact, and the FBI will do a good job, but they came in after the fact.”
The suspect in the Providence campus attack remains at large, with authorities continuing to analyze surveillance video and other evidence. The FBI has released three photographs showing a masked male suspect described as standing 5 feet 8 inches tall with a stocky build, and is offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
On Sunday, law enforcement officials briefly detained a person of interest after receiving a tip that specifically named an individual. That name later circulated publicly. However, investigators said they lacked sufficient evidence to continue holding the individual and now believe he is not connected to the shooting.
Police also moved to correct reports suggesting multiple people had been questioned, clarifying that only one person of interest had been detained and interviewed.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said Monday that progress is being made in the case. “Steady progress” has been achieved, he said, adding, “And the sooner we can identify that person, the sooner we can, I think, blow this case open.”
The shooting claimed the lives of two students and left nine others wounded. One of the victims was identified as Ella Cook, a sophomore from Alabama who served as vice president of the Brown University College Republicans, according to authorities.
The second victim was named as Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov. Officials said Umurzokov and his family are naturalized U.S. citizens originally from Uzbekistan who currently reside in Virginia.
{Matzav.com}
Sydney’s Rabbi Yehoram Ulman delivered a stirring message of resolve and unity during Shacharis in the aftermath of the devastating terror attack that left 15 people murdered.
Overcome with emotion, Rabbi Ulman at one point broke down and recited “Baruch dayan haemes.”
Among those killed was his own son-in-law, Rabbi Eli Schlanger Hy”d.
Addressing the congregation, Rabbi Ulman framed the tragedy as a call to action rather than retreat. “For whatever reason, they died al kiddush hashem,” he said.
He stressed that the victims’ legacy now rests with the living. “And now, they’re looking to us to continue, to make sure that everything they worked for, everything that they’ve done, continues stronger and stronger,” he said. Warning against surrendering to fear, he added, “We cannot allow terrorists – all they want to do is stifle our life as Jews, all they want to do is… bring us down, destroy us, make us despondent, lose hope.”
Rabbi Ulman acknowledged the emotional paralysis many feel in the wake of the attack, but rejected it as an option. “At the moment, it seems, how can we go forward? How can we continue? But that’s not what any of the kedoshim would have ever agreed to. They never would have reacted in such a way, and we have to step up and do the same. We have no choice.”
Concluding his remarks, he appealed for unity within the Jewish people during this painful moment. “We have to remember that now is the time to be as much [in] achdus as possible, united.”
{Matzav.com}
WATCH:
[Video below.] A ceremony was held this evening marking the return of an ancient stone from the Kosel to its original place.
The massive stone, weighing roughly five tons, was dislodged nearly two millennia ago by the Roman Tenth Legion during the churban of the Second Beis Hamikdash. In recent years, it had been exhibited at the Knesset and later placed on loan at Ben-Gurion Airport.
The decision to bring the stone back to its historic setting was reached following a meeting held ahead of Rosh Hashanah, in which Knesset Speaker Amir Ochana participated together with the rov of the Kosel, Rav Shmuel Rabinowitz.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ochana reflected on the stone’s long journey and meaning. “If stones could speak, this heavy stone, with thousands of years of history upon it, would tell of generations of Jews who came to pray at the Bais Hamikdosh. We wish to close this chapter of its wandering and place it in a permanent location, where it can tell the stories it has witnessed.”
Rav Rabinowitz emphasized the spiritual significance of the moment, describing the return as an act of restoration. “Returning this stone to the ruins here is a great rectification. It is a declaration that we do not forget the holy stones and we maintain their sanctity.”
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{Matzav.com}
