PROVIDENCE, R.I. —
Roman Novy-Marx of Pittsford is a junior at Brown University and was a block away when the gunfire started Saturday afternoon. The shooter killed two people and wounded nine others and the gunman is still at large.
Today, as he was getting ready to leave campus and head home for Pittsford, News10NBC spoke with Novy-Marx about how he and his classmates are coping in the aftermath of the mass shooting.
“It’s a mix between relief and almost feelings of guilt that my friends and I are okay and at the same time, just really devastating for all of our peers that are not okay. And so, it’s been hard,” Novy-Marx said.
Novy-Marx is still trying to process the feelings of loss, anxiety and fear. A member of the Brown soccer team, majoring in environmental science and economics, he was winding down the semester Saturday when he got a phone call. A block away, a gunman had just burst into a classroom and opened fire.
“I was advised by my boss at work to actually just get out of campus and get as far as possible. So my friends and I got in the car, went to the woods and kind of sheltered there,” Novy-Marx said.
As he was sheltering in the woods, he was communicating with friends who were still in danger – barricaded inside the Barus and Holley Engineering Building.
“They were texting with me, asking if I was alive and telling me they hoped they were going to make it. There’s really not a lot to say in those moments other than tell the people that you love that you love them, and do what you can to fight for your life,” Novy-Marx said.
The attack at the Ivy League school happened in a classroom where Novy-Marx had been just a few hours earlier.
“It’s awful to be honest. I’m still in shock because of it. But on the Saturday morning, I took one of my final exams for conservation biology in the same room in Barus & Holley. It’s awful and very sad,” Novy-Marx said.
Novy-Marx says the most helpful way that he has been coping these past two days is by being with the campus community to lend support to one another – which is what they did at several campus vigils yesterday.
“It was so much emotion, honestly. You know, feelings of just deep sorrow for my classmates that are no longer with us and those who are still in critical condition,” Novy-Marx said.
Novy-Marx says there is still a feeling of fear knowing that the gunman remains at large. A person of interest was in custody, but was released last night. Police said the evidence no longer supported holding him.
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