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Brown University Rocked by Tragedy: Freshman Remembers Slain Friend
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Brown University community is reeling after a horrific shooting on Saturday claimed the lives of two students and injured nine others. Among the fallen was 18-year-old MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, a freshman whose promising life was cut short in a campus lecture hall.
Vanessa Finder, a fellow freshman and close friend of Umurzokov, shared her heartbreak with ABC News, describing the loss of a classmate who “truly changed my life.” The two met on their first day at Brown this past spring, quickly bonding over a shared passion for neuroscience.
According to Finder, Umurzokov, originally from Uzbekistan, wasn’t scheduled to be at the economics review session targeted by the gunman. However, he accompanied a friend to the lecture, sending Finder a text message with a photo of the hall, jokingly lamenting, “I got dragged to the econ session.”
Finder, who was studying for finals at home in Massachusetts, received urgent alerts from campus emergency services about an active shooter near the Barus & Holley Engineering building. A dawning realization turned to frantic concern as she connected the location to Umurzokov’s last message.
“Then I realized, wait, he was in the classroom where the incident happened,” she recounted. “Then I found out more information, that the people he’s really close to were shot, and that’s when I became really concerned about him.”
Hours of unanswered texts followed, culminating in a devastating 3 a.m. confirmation from a mutual friend: Umurzokov had passed away.
Umurzokov was killed alongside fellow student Ella Cook, described by her Alabama church pastor as a “bright light” and “incredibly grounded and generous and faithful.”
“Everyone feels like it’s unfair,” Finder said, echoing the sentiments of many on campus. “We’ve all been saying, ‘Why him?’
Like, ‘Why Brown? Why did this happen?'”
Despite the profound grief, Finder smiled as she remembered Umurzokov as an “insanely smart” student with a “dry sarcastic humor.” She described him as a “very caring and loyal friend” and a “compassionate person” with “huge dreams to become a neurosurgeon.”
Their friendship blossomed from that first group lunch on their dorm floor. “We just got along really well from the first time that we spoke,” Finder said.
“And from there, we had similar classes, and we would just study together. We got really, really, really close from studying together.”
Finder will miss Umurzokov’s jokes and his hearty laugh, recalling his self-deprecating humor. “Whenever he would make like a tiny mistake, either with work or he would drop something, he would ask me, ‘Would you trust me as your neurosurgeon?'”
she shared. “That’s a perfect example of him just bringing humor into his quirks.”
She added that Umurzokov’s ability to laugh at himself had a profound impact on her. “He taught me that it’s OK to make fun of yourself.
And, honestly, I think it’s kind of made me much happier as a person. I’ve grown so much just from meeting him.”
Beyond the humor, Umurzokov was a trusted confidant. “He has done so much for me and whenever I had any conflicts in my life, like he would sit down with me and give me such genuine advice, such heartfelt advice,” Finder said. “He truly has changed my life.”
As students prepare to return to campus for the next semester, Finder acknowledges that life at the Ivy League school will be irrevocably altered. “I mean, he was also my next-door neighbor.
Like, I would have to pass his door to get to my room every single day. And often he would just knock on my door and ask, like, ‘Do you want to get food?'”
Finder said. “And just to feel this absence, it’s not going to be the same.”
Authorities continue their search for the gunman, who remains at large. New FBI video shows the man sought in the Brown University shooting walking near police after the attack. The community remains in mourning, grappling with the senseless violence that has shattered their campus.