Campus Republican Club VP Ella Cook Named as Student Killed in Brown Shooting

(AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Brown University sophomore Ella Cook, who served as vice-president of the university’s College Republicans club, was confirmed Sunday as one of the students killed in a campus shooting on Saturday.

Cook’s identity as a victim was revealed during a service at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama, where she was a parishioner.

Speaking during the Mass, the Very Rev. R. Craig Smalley described Cook as an “incredible, grounded, faithful bright light,” adding that she had been a source of service and leadership both in her hometown and at Brown University.

“She was an incredible, grounded, faithful bright light, not only growing up here … in the myriad of ways she served faithfully … but at Brown University, where she was also an incredible light,” Smalley said, according to a livestream shared by the parish and seen by the New York Post.

Cook was one of two students killed when a gunman opened fire during a finals review session inside the Barus and Holley building on Saturday afternoon. The second victim has not yet been publicly identified.

Her role within Brown’s Republican club was confirmed by the New York Young Republican Club via X on Sunday, calling her “a leading Republican voice” on campus:

Nine other students were injured in the shooting. One, Kendall Turner of North Carolina, remains in critical condition, while others are reported to be stable.

A person of interest detained in Rhode Island following an overnight manhunt has since been released, police said, as the investigation continues.