PROVIDENCE, RI — The gun violence at Brown University on Dec. 13 is part of a complex public health crisis. The consequences of this senseless act – two people killed, nine more injured and a vibrant community shattered by fear and mourning – are, as many public officials have appropriately described them, unimaginable.
Yet the act itself – an individual choosing to use a firearm in a public place to inflict harm on the people around them – has tragically become routine in the United States. On Dec. 18, authorities announced that the suspect in the Brown University shooting has been found dead in New Hampshire. Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez identified the suspected shooter as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, a former Brown student and whose last known address was in Miami.
Here on the East Side of Providence, we’re now just the latest in a long list of communities to be processing the same tragically clichéd thought: “We can’t believe it happened here.”
Denying the reality of mass shootings is not an effective strategy
Like everyone else, we’re heartbroken about the loss of two young lives. On campus, which should be buzzing with students cramming for finals and preparing for the holidays, we’re disoriented by its quiet emptiness…