College Student, 20, Survived Brown University Tragedy, Years After Parkland High School Mass Shooting: ‘I’m Really Angry’

A Brown University student who survived the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, says she’s struggling to process another act of campus violence — this time at her college.

Zoe Weissman, 20, was on the Providence, Rhode Island, campus on Saturday, Dec. 13, when a gunman opened fire, leaving at least two people dead and nine others injured. A person of interest is currently in custody.

Years earlier, Weissman was a middle school student in Parkland when gunman Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people and injured 18 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Cruz, 27, was sentenced in November 2022 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Speaking to MS NOW about the painful connection between the two shootings, Weissman said, “I’m really angry. I’m really angry that this is happening to me all over again. And I’m just in shock.”

“I think, mentally, I feel like I’m 12 again. This feels exactly how I felt in 2018,” she added, referring to the Florida tragedy.

Brown, an Ivy League school, first announced there was an active shooter near Barus & Holley — a computer lab and engineering building on campus — shortly after 4 p.m. local time on Dec. 13.

University President Christina H. Paxson described the tragedy as “a day that no university community is ever prepared for.”

A spokesperson for Brown University Health said that of the nine people injured, one was in critical condition, six were listed as critical but stable, and two were stabilized, according to NBC News. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley later said during a news conference on Dec. 14 that one person had been discharged, the outlet reported.

As of Dec. 14, the identities of those killed and injured had not been released publicly.

Weissman told MS NOW that classes were not in session, but students were still around campus as finals wrapped up before the semester ended.

Josh Estrella, communications director for the Providence mayor’s office, said the shelter-in-place order for the university had been lifted as of Dec. 14.

Weissman also emphasized that her experience, while deeply personal, isn’t isolated.

“There’s already students who survived the school shooting in Oxford in Michigan, and then went to Michigan State and survived another school shooting,” she said to MS NOW.

“This isn’t a new phenomenon, and we’re going to get to a point where there’s [more] people like myself who survived two of these,” she added.