Abu Sabet: Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha (D) on Monday said the FBI “got over their skis” after a person was arrested and then released in connection with a shooting at Brown University on Saturday that left two people dead and at least nine injured.
CNN’s Erin Burnett asked Neronha about the FBI using cellphone data to arrest a person not involved with the shooting before ultimately releasing them.
“Yeah, I think because people who aren’t familiar or experienced in investigations got over their skis,” Neronha told the host. “During the course of that day, [local reporters who] I know were reaching out to me — look I’ve been AG now for 15 years and I was very careful with my words.”
“And the reason for that is you don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver,” he continued. “Sure, evidence is going to point to a particular person, and it did here. But when we analyze once you identify that person … you can get a search warrant, for example, for their phone, for their room, for their car. You can take a sample of their DNA and test all of that.”
If testing confirms that a person is not a suspect, “then you move on, but you’ve got to run that lead to ground based on the evidence you have to date,” the attorney general added.
Neronha also disagreed with President Trump’s claim that it was Brown University’s fault for the delay in locating the suspect and that the FBI “came in after the fact.”
“No one can foresee these events,” Neronha said. “We try to harden institutions around this state, around the city, my hometown, small town. But you can never harden them against all threats. This isn’t a Brown problem, it’s a national problem, a symptom that happened here in Rhode Island.”
He added that the incident was not Brown’s fault, but the fault of the gunman, and that investigators were focused on “solving this crime, not making broad statements about Brown for whatever reason.”
The issue of the cellphone data collected by the FBI was a point that former New York City Police Department Deputy Commissioner John Miller said was one of a few “interesting tells.”
“Police were very careful to subtly point out during this press conference, this was an FBI-handled lead,” Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, said Sunday. “Has there been some friction between the Providence police and the FBI today over this? I’m going to tell you there has been.”
Providence, R.I., Police Department Chief Oscar Perez also noted that the FBI handled the search for the person after local law enforcement received a tip. Hours after the person’s arrest, authorities held a press conference to alert the public that there was insufficient evidence to keep that person in custody.
Providence police and the FBI on Monday released new photos and video of a person of interest in connection with the shooting. The person is seen in a dark green and gray jacket, dark shoes, dark pants, a dark beanie and a dark face mask.
The FBI is also offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the individual responsible for the shooting. The suspect is described as a man who is roughly 5 feet, 8 inches tall and with a stocky build.
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