The investigation continues after a gunman opened fire in a classroom at the Barus and Holley engineering building in Brown University during final exams. To date, two people have been killed and nine injured. Authorities had detained a person of interest but later released him, stating the evidence was pointing in a different direction. The hunt for the shooter continues.

The two students killed during the attack were MuhammadAziz Umurzakov and Ella Cook. Cook was the first casualty to be publicly identified. She was a 19-year-old sophomore student from Mountain Brook, Alabama. Cook served as the vice president for the school’s Republican club. She was also a parishioner at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. Rev. Craig Smalley of Cathedral Church called Cook “an incredible, grounded, faithful, bright light” during church service on December 14. “She was an incredible light, not only here growing up at the Advent in the myriad ways in which she served faithfully and encouraged those around her but at Brown University as well,” he said.

Cook’s position of leadership in the Republican club has led some to speculate that the attack might have been perpetrated for political reasons. “The Brown University shooter had a 0.8% chance of shooting someone like Ella Cook that identified as very conservative on campus,” wrote one user on X. “Ninty-two out of 11,500. I don’t believe in coincidences after Charlie [Kirk].” “Ella Cook was just 19 years old—a Conservative, a Christian, and Vice President of the Republican Club at Brown University,” wrote Benny Johnson. “She was brutally killed by a shooter in what appears to be a targeted political attack. If you still don’t see what’s happening, you haven’t been paying attention.” He then listed a number of what he described as leftist attacks during the year, including the assassination of Charlie Kirk. “The left’s violent rhetoric has turned into nationwide violence. If we don’t crush this threat now, we lose everything. It’s only escalating. Enough is enough.”

With the shooter still at large, an actual motive for the shooting remains unknown. Tributes did pour out online for Cook and Umurzakov, an Uzbekistan national who was studying to be a doctor. “My heart breaks for the families of Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, two bright young students whose lives were taken far too soon at Brown University,” wrote Ted Cruz on X. “We will not stop fighting for justice for them.” Alabama Governor Kay Ivey ordered flags to be flown at half staff until Friday to honor Cook. “As all of Alabama wraps our arms around Ella’s family in prayer, I also join in mourning her loss,” wrote Ivey. Any remaining classes and in-person activities at Brown have been suspended as the hunt for the shooter continues.