(Ken Silva, Headline USA) As law enforcement continues to search for a gunman who killed two Brown University students and wounded nine others five days ago, some conservative pundits are questioning whether the shooting was a targeted assassination of one of the school’s leading Republican students.
The murdered student in question is 19-year-old Ella Cook, the vice president of the college Republican Club. Cook was reportedly an accomplished pianist who was fluent in French.
The fact that Cook was rumored to be shot numerous times is one of the reasons conservatives are questioning whether she was the target of Saturday’s shooting.
“We’re hearing reports that the Vice President of the Brown Republicans [Ella Cook] might have been shot multiple times. We still don’t understand if this was a targeted shooting and they’re not giving us any clue about that,” Fox News’s Jesse Waters said Tuesday.
“[The shooter looked one guy] directly in the eye and then the shooter didn’t kill him. Why didn’t the shooter shoot the guy if this is a random attack? He’s just spraying bullets around. Why didn’t he shoot the guy?” he added.
🚨 JUST IN – JESSE WATTERS: "We're hearing reports that the Vice President of the Brown Republicans [Ella Cook] might have been shot multiple times. We still don't understand if this was a targeted shooting and they're not giving us any clue about that."
"[The shooter looked one… pic.twitter.com/9lJ8dxgDBT
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 16, 2025
Providence’s police chief, Col. Oscar Perez, has claimed that investigators haven’t found evidence to suggest someone was targeted.
Investigators have described the person they’re seeking as about 5 feet, 8 inches and stocky, but they’ve given no indication that they are close to zeroing in on their identity.
Authorities have been canvassing nearby neighborhoods and have received hundreds of tips.
Providence police on Wednesday released a new photo of a separate individual who they said was in “proximity of the person of interest” and asked the public to help identify that person.
Felipe Rodriguez, a retired New York Police Department detective sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said it is very rare for authorities to make this kind of plea during a criminal investigation.
“They are grasping at straws,” he said.
Meanwhile, Boston-area police are searching for the person who killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor earlier this week. That professor was attacked at home, and the FBI said it had no reason to think the two attacks were linked.
The attack and shooter’s escape have raised questions about campus security.
Paxson said Brown has two security systems. One, which is activated in emergencies, sent out text messages, phone calls and emails that reached 20,000 people. The other features three sirens across the campus and was not activated Saturday. Paxson said doing so would have caused people to rush into buildings, including where the shooter was.
Brown’s website says the sirens can be used when there is a shooter, but Paxson said it depends on circumstances such as location.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
