Brown University Custodian Warned Security That Shooter Was Casing Building

When people are planning some crime, many opt to case the target to see what kind of security is in place. Most don’t know what they’re looking for, but they saw it in a movie, so they do it, too. Those who do know what they’re doing look as well.

That’s not necessarily universal of mass shooters, necessarily, but it’s common enough that it’s something people should be on the lookout for.

It seems that the Brown University shooter cased the school. What’s more, it seems that at least one staff member of the university not just saw him, but did the responsible thing and alerted security.

A Brown University custodian reported spotting a suspicious man—later identified as alleged shooter Claudio Manuel Neves Valente—casing the engineering building nearly 10 times over several weeks starting in early November, before he ultimately opened fire there.

Derek Lisi, a 15-year veteran custodian who worked on campus, had observed the shooter numerous times and alerted security to his odd behavior on two occasions.

“He’d been casing that place for weeks,” Lisi said in an interview with the Boston Globe.

Lisi revealed that he observed the man pacing hallways, peering into classrooms (particularly Room 166 in the Barus and Holley engineering building, where a majority of the shooting took place), and attempting to avoid detection by ducking into bathrooms or walking away quickly when spotted.

The custodian said he suspects the shooter viewed him as a potential security guard himself, trying to avoid being noticed any time a person of authority was on sight.

“I knew there was something off with him,” Lisi said. “I thought it was someone trying to steal something. Every time he saw me, I think he thought I was security, because he would always walk away.”

After alerting a security guard to his concerns, the pattern of odd behavior reportedly continued. Which in turn prompted another report.

When the man saw him, Lisi said, the man started walking away quickly and ducked into the bathroom.

“I said, ‘Something’s off with this guy, so I gotta say something,’” he recalls.

So he said he flagged down the same private security guard again. According to Lisi, the guard didn’t investigate.

So it seems the only person involved with Brown University, the local government, and state government who had a freaking clue of what to do and how to handle a situation was a custodian.

Now, I’m not knocking Lisi in any way. He’s got a job, and he does what he’s asked to do. He also had the sense to report a suspicious character lurking around the campus multiple times. That’s precisely what he should have done.

It’s just that he’s also the one person who isn’t directly responsible for keeping people safe, and he’s the only one who seems to have tried.

Lisi said he identified the shooter as “the guy” because of his distinctive walk that appeared in the video shared by authorities. Of course, his knowledge of this wouldn’t have helped much since it seems security never took Lisi’s reports particularly seriously, so there was no way his recognizing the killer as the same person was much help.

A lot of times, potential mass shootings are thwarted not because of some gun control law, but because people saw something suspicious and reported it. When that happens, authorities can often handle things before a shot is fired.

Lisi did just that, but it seems everyone else dropped the ball.

It should also be noted that Brown University has a campus police department. These aren’t rent-a-cops who have no authority off campus. The officers of the campus police can act as police on and around the college’s campus, so they could have questioned the guy, gotten his name, etc, and then maybe done something before it got to the point that people were killed.

Unfortunately, they were, and everyone besides Lisi seems to have dropped the ball so completely that it should go into textbooks of how not to handle a campus shooting.

Editor’s Note: Christmas is coming a little early here at Bearing Arms! 

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