Trump's FBI 'podcasters' face withering criticism for Brown shooting case screw ups
Authorities released a person of interest who had been detained over the weekend in connection with a deadly shooting at Brown University, raising fresh concerns about President Donald Trump's choices to lead the FBI.
Police initially had expressed confidence that the person of interest, who was identified as a 24-year-old U.S. Army veteran, was the individual who opened fire Saturday inside a classroom in the Barus & Holley building, killing at least two students and injuring nine others.
But Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha announced late Sunday the person who had been detained hours earlier by the FBI Boston’s Safe Streets Task Force would be released because the evidence “now points in a different direction,” although authorities did not specify what evidence had justified them taking that individual into custody.
"I think it's fair to say that there is no basis to consider him a person of interest, so that's why he's being released," Neronha told reporters.
The shooter apparently remains at large, although Providence Mayor Brett Smiley tried to reassure the public they are safe because police had not received any credible threats since the shooting. Law enforcement is facing criticism for how the investigation has played out in its early stages.
"Certainly there has been criticism in the sense of the lack of camera video footage that may have been acquired by investigators during this process," Will Richmond, of the Providence Journal, told "CNN This Morning." "The attorney general last night assured that there is no video evidence that has not been released that would be, that they believe would be helpful in this investigation."
"What comes next?" Richmond added. "It's really, really difficult to say. I think yesterday there was a sense of relief. There was a sense that the community could start healing. The vigil was held last night, but, you know, when Providence and state authorities came out last night to announce that they were releasing the detained person it felt like there was a new tension in all of this, and an uncertainty as to, you know, when will this person be found, if at all."
FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy director Dan Bongino faced more direct criticism on social media, where he had boasted about the bureau's role in the investigation.
"This is what happens when the FBI is run by two right-wing conspiracy theorist podcasters who spent the last 11 months purging almost anyone with institutional knowledge from the bureau," said journalist Ben Collins, who is CEO of satirical Onion newspaper. "They're going to keep [messing] this kind of thing up."
"They’re releasing the suspect in the Brown University murders," posted the widely followed Hoodlum account. "They had the wrong person. How does this even happen?"
"I’m starting to suspect that our ability to catch spree killers who leave the scene is extremely dependent on a functioning FBI…which we 100% do not have right now," worried Bluesky user Zoomer Antimillenarian.
"REALLY doesn't feel great remembering that Kash's FBI put basically all the counterterrorism people on immigration enforcement," replied Bluesky user OddEvens.
"This is why you don’t put podcasters in charge of the FBI," posted the popular X account Blue Georgia.