Conservative Student Dead Following Shooting at Brown University

The vice president of College Republicans at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, was shot and killed over the weekend.  

Ella Cook, a sophomore at the university, was attending an economics study session with a group of other students ahead of finals when a gunman entered the lecture hall and opened fire, killing Cook and another student and injuring at least nine others. Authorities have not released the identity of the second victim.  

“Ella [Cook] was known for her bold, brave, and kind heart as she served her chapter and her fellow classmates,” College Republicans of America said in a statement.  

Brown, an Ivy League university, is majority liberal, with Campus Reform reporting that 78% of students identify as liberal or progressive and only 7% as conservative.  

Tributes to the young conservative flooded social media following her death.  

“Ella was a lovely, kind, and exceptionally bright young woman,” author and prominent activist Xi Van Fleet wrote on X, explaining she met Cook in April during a lunch at Brown. “We spoke about what it was like to be a conservative on campus, current events, and the history of Communism,” Van Fleet recalled.  

Cook was a parishioner at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. The Rev. Craig Smalley honored her memory on Sunday, telling the congregation that Cook was “incredibly grounded and generous and faithful.”  

The gunman, who wore all black, yelled something reported to be inaudible as he burst into the lecture hall and opened fire on Saturday. A person of interest was apprehended but later released, authorities said. A manhunt is still underway for the suspect. The FBI is involved in the search, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.  

The motive in the attack remains unknown. 

The shelter-in-place order was lifted on the university on Sunday, but final exams have been canceled, and many students have already been seen leaving campus to go home early for winter break.  

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he had been briefed on the situation.  

The shooting came on what proved to be a weekend with multiple deadly incidents that gained international attention.  

Only hours after the Brown shooting, two gunmen are reported to have opened fire at a Hanukkah event at Sydney, Australia’s famed Bondi Beach. At least 15 people are dead in what is being called an antisemitic attack.  

In Syria, two Iowa Army National Guard soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in a terrorist attack on Sunday.  

“This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.  

“The President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is extremely angry and disturbed by this attack,” Trump continued, vowing that there will be” very serious retaliation.”