From the New York Post: The person of interest in the deadly mass shooting at Brown University has been ID’d as a 24-year-old man from Wisconsin who served in the Army and supported statehood for DC, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
Benjamin Erickson was nabbed before dawn Sunday at a Hampton Inn in Coventry, RI, after an 11-hour manhunt following a gunman opening fire at the Ivy League institution’s Providence campus during a final-exam study session Saturday.
Erickson, who is originally from Wisconsin, has lived in an apartment in Washington, DC, since 2024, with his voter registry showing a “statehood” party affiliation, according to public records.
He served as an infantryman in the US Army from May 2021 to November 2024, leaving the military with the rank of specialist, an Army rep told The Post.
Armed with a handgun, Erickson reportedly fired more than 40 .9mm rounds during Saturday’s deadly attack, killing two students and wounding nine others.
Witnesses described hearing the gunman shouting something as he was firing at students, but they were not sure exactly what he said.
Authorities arrested Erickson at a Hampton Inn hotel early Sunday morning. In his hotel room, they found a revolver, and a small Glock handgun equipped with a special laser light.
Erickson reportedly claimed that he had been in his hotel room the entire day on Saturday, when the shooting occurred. However, authorities are not buying that story, and the FBI said they were able to track him through cellular data.
At present, he is being held only as a “person of interest” and has not been charged in the attack. Erickson reportedly doesn’t appear to have a criminal history.
In addition to supporting statehood for the District of Columbia, a LinkedIn page alleged to be associated with Erickson touts “Refugee and Migrant Support.” He also lists support for a number of other left-leaning issues, including Gender Equity, Housing and Shelter, Human Rights, Civil Rights, Social Action and Civic Engagement, and Mental Health and Crisis Intervention.
On the LinkedIn page, Erickson lists his college education as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. However, he confirmed he does have ties to Brown University.
A statement on his page reads, “I attended online classes at UWM after graduating high school due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. I joined the Army afterwards and resumed taking full time college classes here online in fall 2022 up until spring 2023. I transferred to Brown University after leaving service to attend in the Fall 2025 semester.”
Some overzealous social media users appear to have been sharing a photo and details about the wrong Ben Erickson, also from Wisconsin, who was blonde, but that issue appears to be resolved. The actual person in custody has been identified as the man featured in this LinkedIn page.
People have been sharing the LinkedIn for the WRONG Benjamin Erickson as the shooter from Brown University this is the CORRECT Benjamin Erickson. pic.twitter.com/W2eC3jgGjS
— PubliusRising🇺🇸 (@PubliusRising) December 14, 2025
This is the correct Benjamin Erickson that commited the Brown University shooting.
The blonde kid in original reports is NOT the correct Ben/Benjamin Erickson. https://t.co/KKlkyNorJW pic.twitter.com/Q0mj75nJT6
— Mahogany Philosophy (@MahoganyIntel) December 14, 2025
The suspect in the Brown University shooting has now been identified as 24-year-old Benjamin Erickson from Wisconsin, who served in the U.S. Army. Now you know why Providence, Rhode Island & Brown University Police both slow walked who the suspect was. He’s a radical leftist. pic.twitter.com/7LEWrXnSi4
— Evans Wroten (@Evans_Wroten) December 15, 2025
FBI Director Kash Patel announced in a post on X:
An update on the @FBI response at Brown University: @FBIBoston established a command post to intake, develop and analyze leads, and run them to ground. We activated the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team, to provide critical geolocation capabilities.
As a result, early this morning, FBI Boston’s Safe Streets Task Force, with assistance from the @USMarshalsHQ & the @Coventry_RI_PD, detained a person of interest in a hotel room in Coventry, RI, based off a lead by the
@ProvidenceRIPD.We have deployed local and national resources to process and reconstruct the shooting scene – providing HQ and Lab elements on scene. We set up a digital media intake portal to ingest images and video from the public related to this incident. And the FBI’s victim specialists are fully integrating with our partners to provide resources to victims and survivors of this horrific violence.
This FBI will continue an all out 24/7 campaign until justice is fully served. Thanks to the men and women of the FBI and our partners for their continued teamwork. Please continue praying for the victims and their families – as well as all those at Brown University.
An update on the @FBI response at Brown University:@FBIBoston established a command post to intake, develop and analyze leads, and run them to ground.
We activated the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team, to provide critical geolocation capabilities.
As a result, early… pic.twitter.com/KONDEbrduR
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) December 14, 2025
BREAKING:
Benjamin Erickson has been identified as a person of interst in the Brown University mass shooting.
He was a United States Army infantryman from May 2021 to November 2024.
Years ago, he was sharing "anti-Republican" content on his seldom used X account. pic.twitter.com/jHhYtDeT7u
— Evan Kilgore 🇺🇸 (@EvanAKilgore) December 15, 2025
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