Two mass shootings in Australia and Rhode Island raises questions about security and gun violence
WASHINGTON (NBC, KYMA) - Two mass shootings a half a world apart dominating the headlines Monday morning, and has reignited the issue of gun violence in the United States.
Rhode Island officials said overnight, they were releasing a person of interest in the shooting at Brown University, with evidence now pointing in a different direction.
President Donald Trump spoke about the deadly shootings at Brown and at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, with investigators designating that one a terrorist attack designed to target Jewish people.
After a weekend of devastating gun violence, from the campus of Brown University in Rhode Island, where two people were killed and nine people were injured in a classroom, to the shores of Sydney, with at least 15 people killed and close to 30 people in the hospital in what investigators call an antisemitic attack, President Trump weighed in.
"To the nine injured, get well fast, and to the families of those two that are no longer with us, I pay my deepest regards and respects from the United States of America," Trump expressed.
This comes as investigators in Rhode Island said they had released a person of interest in the Brown shooting.
"There was some degree of evidence that pointed to this individual but that evidence needed to be corroborated and confirmed...That evidence now points in a different direction," said Peter Neronha, Rhode Island Attorney General.
Security video shows a person believed to be the shooter with no clear image of their face.
As investigators raced to track down the gunman, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley (D) is looking to ease the community's fears.
"We have not received any credible or specific threats to the Providence community," Mayor Smiley shared.
Meanwhile in Australia, police identified two suspects, a father and son, accused of terrorism targeting Jewish people who were celebrating the first day of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach, one of Australia's most popular tourist sites.
"What was the most shocking was how long the gunfire lasted," said one eyewitness.
The 50-year-old suspect fatally shot at the scene while his 24-year-old son in custody and hospitalized with critical injuries.
A bystander being hailed a hero for disarming one of the gunmen.
Australian officials said they may move to tighten already strict gun laws while on Capitol Hill, Democratic lawmakers again pressing to bring gun safety legislation to the forefront.
One Brown University student was injured in a 2019 shooting at her California high school, and another was in the adjacent middle school during the 2018 Parkland mass shooting.
