Brown University’s campus shooting, which killed two and injured nine others, left everyone in complete shock. The mass shootout occurred while the students were taking their final exams. An unidentified gunman entered the premises and opened fire inside the university’s engineering and physics department in Providence, Rhode Island.
After the attack, the gunman escaped from the premises immediately, killing two students on the spot. Video footage later received shows that the man entered the university campus wearing a pair of dark and loose-fitting pants, a dark jacket and a cap. It does not show his whereabouts before gunning down students, nor has his face been deemed clear.
While the attack has left the students and the community in shock and tension, it has been President Donald Trump’s rather insensitive way of addressing the attack that has now faced backlash. The 79-year-old recently spoke about the incident during the Christmas reception at White House, and critics have simply not been able to wrap their heads around the evident lackadaisical approach the U.S. President showed on the subject.
Trump first began to commend and praise Brown University as a great school, and probably the best one he has ever seen. While this appreciation was totally unrelated to the grave incident that occurred on campus, the U.S. President ended up tagging it as something that can happen and is not shocking enough.
He said, “Things can happen, so to the nine injured, get well fast. And to the families of those two who are no longer with us, I pay my deepest regards and respect from the United States of America. Thank you very much. It’s a very important thing to say. And we mean it.” Despite sharing his deepest condolences and regards to the lives lost, netizens and critics have taken a stance against him, generalizing it as something ordinary.
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Trump on the Brown University shooting: “Things can happen.”
Families are shattered. Lives are permanently altered.
And that’s the response.
No empathy. No gravity.
Just emptiness where leadership should be. pic.twitter.com/Gea5aoj7IY
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) December 14, 2025
Comments on social media against Trump’s 3-word comment came up “As always, a towering fountain of empathy.” Another netizen wrote, “Things can happen.- Our president… It’s almost like he couldn’t be bothered.” A third chimed in saying, “Things happen” – that’s not leadership, that’s a shrug with a microphone.”
Some even took a dig at Donald Trump’s extensive ballroom plans in the White House, adding that it was exactly why he chose to react less appropriately on such an incident, which took away two human lives. The user penned, “But on a brighter note, we’re making great progress in the ballroom!” Meanwhile, Governor Gavin Newsom also reacted to the insensitive remark of the U.S. President. Resharing the clip on X, he wrote, “no words.”
no words. https://t.co/hLeQKzMLAS
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) December 14, 2025
Meanwhile, the person of interest was released shortly after the arrest. According to Providence Police Chief Col Oscar Perez, authorities have insufficient evidence to prosecute or detain the individual. Meanwhile, the authorities are combing through surveillance footage to identify the masked gunman and track him down.
On the other hand, the exact details of the injured and the identities of those who have been killed are not released by authorities yet. But they are broadly identified as students. The police continue to draw up the investigation and attempt to nab the culprit as soon as possible.
