PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Zoe Weissman says she was in her dorm when she got a frantic phone call from another student moments after a gunman opened fire on Brown University’s campus.
Two students were killed in Saturday’s shooting, nine others were injured. The shooter is now in custody after being detained early Sunday morning.
It’s not the first time Zoe’s survived a school shooting. She was 12 years old when another gunman opened fire at a Parkland High School in Florida in 2018. “I immediately facetimed my mom and told her and I just felt so bad because it was the same exact reaction she had when everything happened in Parkland. So it was just kind of that feeling all over again,” said Weissman.
Ref Barin had just wrapped a meeting with his satellite team inside the physics and engineering building on campus. He says on his way out, he heard the unimaginable.
“Suddenly there’s a series of punctuated pop sounds like ‘pop pop pop pop pop’ right behind me,” said Barin. “So I think ok I misheard something. After a very brief pause the pops start again and this time there’s no mistaking it I mean you don’t need some kind of fact check I start running as fast as I can.”
Ref screamed the words ‘active shooter’ to alert others. In the middle of the chaos, he says he bumped into Allie, another student on campus.
Allie offered Ref shelter in her apartment. A video shared with Boston 25 shows that very moment. He calls Allie’s kindness, especially in a moment where distrust was at an ultimate high, very brave.
“Allie, I and two of her friends hid in her bathroom for two hours and we locked all the doors, we closed all the blinds, we locked all the windows and we were just in the bathroom like a small bathroom four of us waiting it out for two hours,” said Barin.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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