As a manhunt for the gunman continues, CCTV footage released by police shows the suspect walking out of the building after the attack. Neither his face nor a weapon are visible.

But Todd McGhee, a counter-terrorism and violent extremism expert, told BBC News that the video gives law enforcement officers "a direction of travel".

"If you think of a bird’s eye view of a city block you’ll be able to then identify the next set of buildings with CCTV or Ring cameras - any type of information that law enforcement can pursue and continue on tracking the individual and the direction of their travel away from the shooting," he said.

McGhee added that agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on the scene would be looking to trace the type of firearm used, as well as its owner.

Investigators will also be looking for a "digital footprint" of social media posts or texts, and whether any vehicle was left behind that could help them to identify a suspect, he said.

Image source, Providence Police

Pratiksha Ghildial
Reporting from Rhode Island

Graduate students Marcos and Daniel have described the terrifying moments when they had to take shelter. They say they were studying a little distance away in the Rockefeller library on campus when they got an alert about an active gunman in the area.

They say they were told to shelter until the police came to escort them out.

"We stayed away from the windows and when the police came we were told to drop our bags, raise our hands and then a search was carried out on the floor before we were led out of the library", they say.

Many graduate students like them are planning to stay home for a couple of days until things get calmer and the gunman is caught, they tell us.

Image source, Reuters

It has now been 10 hours since a gunman opened fire in a classroom at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, killing two people and injuring nine.

The gunman remains at large and students on campus are still being told to shelter in place.

If you're just catching up, here's what to know:

• The gunman opened fire in a classroom at around 16:00 local time (21:00 GMT) - exams were taking place in the building
• Two students were killed and nine other people were injured
• The identities of the two people killed have not yet been released. Officials from Rhode Island Hospital say most of the injured are in "critical but stable" condition
• Students are still being told to shelter inside and keep doors locked
• Police initially arrested one person, but released them after determining they had no involvement in the shooting
• They say the attacker was a man dressed all in black who fled on foot, and have released a video of the suspect. The manhunt is ongoing

We'll be following for updates as police continue their manhunt - stay with us here for the latest.

Image source, Getty Images

It is the early hours of the morning in Rhode Island, where police are searching for a gunman who opened fire on students in a classroom during exams week. This is where things stand now.

• Two students were killed when a gunman attacked students at Brown University in the city of Providence
• A further nine people are being treated in hospital. One is in a critical condition, six are described as "critical but stable", and two others have less severe injuries
• Police have released CCTV footage of the male suspect, who was seen walking away from the building dressed head-to-toe in black
• We know very little about the suspect, including an identity, motive or where he could be now
• A massive security operation is under way in Providence to locate the suspect, with armed police swarming the city
• Brown University remains on lockdown, with students told to stay in their rooms - some surrounding neighbourhoods have also been place under strict security measures

We're pausing our live coverage for the time being but will continue to bring you updates on this developing story elsewhere on the BBC News website.

Image source, Reuters

As a reminder, students at Brown University are still in lockdown.

Students were told to lock themselves in their rooms or shelter in a safe place on campus shortly after the shooting happened at about 16:05 local time.

We've seen images of many students being evacuated under police protection since then.

There are 11,000 students enrolled at the university. It is midnight in Rhode Island and the gunman is still on the loose.

Officials have provided their final planned update of the night, saying the manhunt is likely to continue into tomorrow.

CCTV images do not show many identifiable characteristics of the shooter, reporters are told.

State and federal police are pouring into Providence, Rhode Island, to help with the search.

As we heard earlier, the shooting occurred while some students were sitting for their final exams.

Brown University provost Frank Doyle confirmed scheduled exams for tomorrow will not take place.

We've just received the first images of the suspect released by police.

In the CCTV video, the suspect is seen heading north away from the Barus and Holley building in Providence - where the shooting happened - up Hope Street, before turning east onto Waterman Street.

He is dressed all in black and his face is not visible. A weapon is not visible.

Image source, Reuters

Today's shooting in Providence takes the total number of mass shootings in the US to 389 for the year 2025.

That's based on figures from the independent analysis website Gun Violence Archive (GVA), where it defines mass shootings as having four or more victims killed or injured, not including the attacker.

The two students at Brown University become the 345th and 346th people to lose their lives in mass shootings in the US this year, according to GVA.

Its data shows that a further 1,800 have been injured in the same period.

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley has told CNN that the doors to the Barus & Holley building were unlocked today because of the ongoing exams.

That meant "anyone could have entered the building", he said.

We heard earlier from officials that most of the Brown University buildings require "card swipe" access, though it is not clear if that was the case here.

We also heard during the last briefing that a review will be carried out into security on campus.

We've just been listening to officials providing an update on the search for the gunman in Providence.

We learned police believe the suspect appears to be in his thirties and that he was captured on camera leaving the building.

The shooting, we are told, happened in a first floor classroom and it appears the victims are all students.

But big questions around this investigation remain.

Who is the attacker and where is he now? Was the gunman a student and what was the motive? What type of weapon was used - and where is that weapon?

We will bring you more on this as soon as police release more information. Another briefing is expected later.

The police chief has just been asked if this shooting could be terror-related, to which he says "that we don't know yet".

He says investigators don't know if the gunman has had help from someone else.

We've also had confirmation that the shooting took place in a first floor classroom, and that the weapon has not been found.

The president of Brown University confirms that the two people killed were students.

It appears that all of those injured were students too, but officials indicate they are still establishing that.

Officials have said they will release footage of the suspect after they finish their current update.

This will be a video from the building where the attack took place as the suspect left, they said.

In the video, the suspect is seen wearing dark clothing and his face is not visible, police say.

Some witnesses indicated he was wearing a grey, camouflaged mask but that has not been confirmed.

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley says they have been made aware of another person injured during the shooting at Brown University, taking the total number hurt to nine.

He says the additional victim had left the scene following the attack.

They did not suffer a gunshot wound, he adds, explaining they suffered non-life threatening injuries from fragments from the shooting "that had occurred near them".

He adds that authorities are aware of the fear and anxiety in the community and repeat that the shelter in place warning remains in effect.

We're hearing officials provide an update now. We'll bring you updates imminently.

Almost five hours after Brown University's initial alert of an active shooter, authorities have not released any more information about the suspect.

All we know is that the shooter is a male and was wearing all black.

Officials said at a press conference earlier today that they hoped to release a photo of the suspect shortly but that still has not happened.

As soon as we have more information we will bring it to you.

We've been hearing from a former police lieutenant, who has been telling the BBC about the next steps police could take to determine the suspected shooter's route.

"In the hours after a situation like this, there's going a lot of people looking at their Ring cameras," Jay Sokloski says.

"It's going to be very important to funnel that information to law enforcement to establish a possible route that this individual took."

A student who was working in a lab inside Brown University has been recalling the moment he received a text alerting him to a shooting nearby.

"There were three other students with me," Cheung tells local news outlet WJAR. "We decided to turn the light off and hide under our desks."

"I was hoping no one was getting hurt, I felt like I was safe in the lab," he adds.

The student says he was "under the desks for two hours or so", before armed police arrived to escort them outside.