https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/brown-univers...
https://www.masslive.com/news/2025/12/were-catching-serial-k...
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/brown-univers...
https://www.masslive.com/news/2025/12/were-catching-serial-k...
Was he homeless? I haven't seen that mentioned in the articles.
"Phil Helsel Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said a person who had information about the suspect played a crucial role in the case."
Anyone have the Reddit link? (I wonder why the article doesn't include it)
> John said that the suspect’s clothing was inappropriate for the weather and that they had made eye contact.
Why is the report mentioning the eye contact? Is that culturally significant, as in, in the US you don’t normally do eye contact with strangers, and if a stranger does make eye contact, it’s suspicious?
[0]: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/us/brown-mit-shooting-inv...
https://www.fastcompany.com/91463942/sequoia-shaun-maguire-b...
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/12/conspiracy-rumors-...
What an asshole. He could have gotten the kid killed, not to mention the damage to his social reputation. And he can't even manage a "sorry if you were offended" non-apology.
But what got me was the tipster who blew wide open the case is reportedly a homeless Brown graduate who lived in the basement of the engineering building (a la South Korean film Parasite). It made me so sad but also not surprised, that building does have a single occupancy bathroom with showers; and no keycard access was needed in the evening until 7pm.
So it made sense to me that he or she would've used that building for shelter and comfort. Also it didn't boggle my mind at all that a Brown grad (from the picture, the tipster looked like a artistic Brown student vs. the careerist type) would be homeless - given that I known many of my classmates who have a certain personality, brilliant but also idealistic/uncompromising that made them brittle unfortunately in a society that rewards conformity, settling and stability.
I can't get over the fact that two Brown student whom presumably have fallen on the wayside of society have chosen two different paths, (1) the homeless guy who still perseveres even in the basement of Barrus & Holley for 15 years a la Parasite after 2010 graduation but still has the situational awareness and rises to the occasion to give the biggest tip to the Providence Police, (2) the other guy who harbors so much resentment over a course of 25 years to plan a trip from Florida to gun down innocent kids who are 18 and 19 and his classmate when they were 18 and 19 year old.
Life imitates art.
> How a Reddit post blew Brown University shooting investigation wide open
> Frustration had mounted that the murderer had managed to get away and that a clear image of his face hadn't emerged - until a Reddit post finally put police on his trail.
Glant•16h ago
I think it's the biggest response I've personally seen since the Boston Marathon Bombing.
sans_souse•1h ago
websiteapi•1h ago
if anything this whole saga makes me happy smart people aren't killers more often because this guy basically got away...
dustincoates•1h ago
nervousvarun•1h ago
What exactly is the expectation here? Is there some sort of wide-spread belief that the world works like an episode of Law and Order and every crime is instantly solved by rolling up your sleeves and doing good old fashioned detective work?
Would assume for the majority of planned murder to be resolved as quickly as these highly publicized cases have been (the Kirk deal took about 2 days also) there's going to have to be an element of luck. Piecing together digital/forensic evidence is going to require time and effort. If it's not an obvious connection (domestic violence etc.) and there's no direct witnesses it seems logical you only have a few outcomes:
A) Going to be solved due to a lucky break
B) Going to be solved after a ton of time/interviews/piecing together forensic evidence
C) Not be solved.
Also he only "got away" because he killed himself. They likely would have caught him fairly soon after this because they had his identity from the car tags. I guess the point is though luck is all you have if it's solved this quickly because it's so random.
agoodusername63•1h ago
Now he doesn't have to worry about paying for that. Or getting reasonable treatment but hey,
websiteapi•1h ago
As for the expectation, other than if civil liberties are going to be violated in the name of safety I expect much faster results, and I’m sure the MIT professors family would agree.
nervousvarun•1h ago
Of course the family wants it solved right away but there's a reality to this that seems to be overlooked here but is also not unique here. A lot of murders are never solved. Luck is a factor all the time.
websiteapi•59m ago
I'm not really sure what you think I'm arguing.
bagels•1h ago
websiteapi•1h ago
WillPostForFood•1h ago
Titanic basically sailed safely across the Atlantic, except for a bit of bad luck.
dantillberg•1h ago
lawlessone•43m ago
>Everyone's a superhero
>Everyone's a "Captain Kirk"