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Providence: A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded eight others at Brown University on Sunday during final exams on the Ivy League campus, authorities said, and police were searching for the suspect.

Officers scattered across the campus and into an affluent neighbourhood filled with historic and stately brick homes, searching academic buildings, backyards and porches for hours after the shooting erupted.

The suspect was a male in dark clothing who was last seen leaving the engineering building where the attack happened, said Timothy O’Hara, Deputy Chief of Police.

Authorities believe the shooter used a handgun, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorised to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Rhode Island has some of the strictest gun laws in the US. Last spring, the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed an assault weapon ban that will prohibit the sale and manufacturing of certain high-powered firearms, but not their possession, starting next July.

“The unthinkable has happened,” Democratic Rhode Island Gov Dan McKee said.

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said a shelter-in-place was in effect and encouraged people living near the campus to stay inside and not to return home until it is lifted.

“We have all available resources” to find the suspect, Smiley said.

Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the engineering building’s lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops coming from the east side.

Once she realised they were gunshots, she darted for the door and ran to a nearby building where she was waited for a couple of hours.

Eight people with gunshot wounds were taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where six were in critical but stable condition, according to Kelly Brennan, a spokesperson for the hospital. Another was in critical condition and one was stable, she said.

University officials initially told students and staff that a suspect was in custody, before later saying that was not the case. The mayor said a person preliminarily thought to be involved was detained but was later determined to have no involvement.

Nearly five hours after the shooting, officers in tactical gear led students out of some campus buildings and into a fitness centre.

The shooting occurred in the Barus and Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department. According to the university’s website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices.

Engineering design exams were underway there when the shooting occurred.

Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm directly across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside and received a text about an active shooter shortly after 4 pm.

“I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as a half-dozen armed officers in tactical gear surrounded his dorm. He said he feared for a friend who he thought was inside the engineering building at the time.

Students in a nearby lab hid under desks and turned off the lights after receiving an alert about the shooting, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering who was about a block away from the scene.

Mari Camara, 20, a junior from New York City, was coming out of the library and rushed inside a taqueria to seek shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting friends while police searched the campus.

“Everyone is the same as me, shocked and terrified that something like this happened,” she said.

President Donald Trump told reporters that he had been briefed on the shooting and “all we can do right now is pray for the victims.”

“It’s a shame,” he said in brief remarks at the White House.

The FBI said it was assisting in the response.

Brown, the seventh oldest higher education institution in the US, is one of the nation’s most prestigious colleges, with roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students. Tuition, housing and other fees run to nearly USD 100,000 per year, according to the university.