Multiple people were shot on Brown University’s Providence campus during the second day of final exams, officials said. Providence police, assisted by the FBI, responded to an active-shooter situation near the Barus & Holley engineering complex; university alerts instructed students and staff to shelter in place. University and city spokespeople cautioned that details remained preliminary while investigators secured the scene. Brown’s emergency notifications and local law enforcement shifted messages about a suspect being in custody, then corrected that claim as searches continued. The incident directly disrupted finals, campus operations and student safety services; federal assistance from the FBI was cited as part of the response. The evolving investigation will affect campus public-safety protocols, counseling capacity, and short-term residential operations for thousands of undergraduates and graduate students. Universities should expect heightened scrutiny of campus security plans and emergency-communications procedures after the attack. Institutions with research labs or dense lab buildings — like the Barus & Holley engineering complex, which houses more than 100 labs — will be monitoring building access, visitor policies, and mental-health demand in the days ahead.