On December 13, 2025, a gunman opened fire inside the Barus and Holley engineering building at Brown University, killing two students and wounding nine others during what should have been a routine final-exam review session. The attack struck at the heart of an Ivy League campus and shattered the illusion that elite schools are immune to the violence ravaging other parts of the country. This is a tragedy that demands clarity and action, not platitudes.
Among the dead were 19-year-old Ella Cook, a vice president of Brown’s College Republicans, and 18-year-old Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, a freshman who dreamed of becoming a neurosurgeon. These were students with bright futures, leaders and scholars whose lives were cut short in a space that should have been safe for learning. Families and classmates are left to grieve while campus administrators scramble for answers.
Law enforcement mounted a massive response — hundreds of officers along with FBI and ATF agents — but confusion and mixed messages hampered the initial public account, with a person briefly detained and then released as investigators admitted they had no grounds to hold him. That bungled communication only deepened community anxiety and underscores why clear, competent policing matters more than ever. Providence officials must be given the resources and leadership to hunt down the perpetrator quickly and transparently.
Even more alarming are the security failures laid bare by this attack: the building was reportedly unlocked, the room was accessible to the public, and surveillance gaps made it difficult to identify the shooter. Too many campuses have traded real security for a false sense of openness and ideological gestures about accessibility, leaving students exposed. Administrators who prioritize optics over protection should be held to account for predictable consequences.
As politicians and pundits rush to exploit the carnage, the predictable calls for more gun bans are already pouring in from the usual suspects. Americans must reject reflexive, partisan posturing that punishes law-abiding citizens while doing nothing to stop criminals who obtain weapons illegally or intend to evade any new mandates. The conservative path is clear: bolster law enforcement, harden campus security, expand sensible mental-health interventions, and enforce the laws on the books against violent offenders.
We should also be skeptical of any attempt to politicize the victims themselves, particularly when one of them was a young conservative leader on campus. The left’s instinct to weaponize grief for legislative gain insults the dead and divides communities when solidarity is needed most. Conservatives must defend these students’ memories by demanding accountability and practical reforms, not hollow virtue signaling.
Now is the time for action, not for performative campus vigils that leave policies unchanged. Families deserve swift justice, survivors deserve proper care, and students deserve campuses where doors and people tasked with protection are not left to bureaucratic indifference. Citizens should pressure university trustees, state leaders, and law enforcement to implement commonsense changes that actually reduce risk rather than theatrically ban items or words.
Pray for the victims and their families, support the wounded, and stand with the brave officers and investigators working around the clock to bring the shooter to justice. This moment should harden our resolve to defend American campuses and communities from violence, not weaken it through political theater. We owe it to Ella, to Mukhammad, and to every student who goes to class thinking they will come home safe.
