An aspiring neurosurgeon and a student leader of Brown University’s campus Republicans were in a study group preparing for an economics final, with the end of the semester in sight.
But the lives of MukhammadAziz Umurzokov and Ella Cook when a gunman in the engineering building. Nine others were wounded before the gunman fled. Investigators were still searching for him Monday.
As about the gunman’s motives and how he managed to walk away after the attack, relatives and friends of Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman from Brandermill, Virginia, and Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, tried to make sense of the loss.
MukhammadAziz Umurzokov
Umurzokov decided at a young age that he wanted to go into medicine.
He made up his mind after suffering a neurological condition that required him to undergo surgery as a child and having to wear a back brace due to scoliosis. With a double-major in biochemistry and neuroscience, he hoped to go to medical school.
鈥淗e had so many hardships in his life, and he got into this amazing school and tried so hard to follow through with the promise he made when was 7 years old,鈥� his sister, Samira Umurzokova, told The Associated Press by phone Monday.
Umurzokov was helping a friend at an economics final review session when someone walked into the classroom and began shooting.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just crazy unfair that all of that was taken from him in a second because of someone,鈥� Umurzokova said.
He took it upon himself to help students who just immigrated to the United States and weren鈥檛 fully acclimated to the culture and language, said Umurzokova, whose family came to the country from Uzbekistan when she, her brother and sister were very young.
She said he would be using his phone at the dinner table and when his parents told him to put it away, he would say, 鈥濃�楴o, I鈥檓 helping my friend with calculus homework.鈥欌��
When he wasn鈥檛 busy with schoolwork, he would play video games with friends and hang out at a book store with family. He had plans to take his sisters to see the movie 鈥淎vatar: Fire and Ash,鈥� which comes out Friday.
鈥淗e was a thoughtful person,鈥� Umurzokova said. 鈥淗e always tried to include everyone in everything. and just always thought of other people before he thought of himself.鈥�
Ella Cook
Cook, of Mountain Brook, Alabama, was beloved in her Birmingham church and was vice president of the Brown College Republicans.
When announcing her death Sunday to the Cathedral Church of the Advent congregation, the Rev. R. Craig Smalley described her as 鈥渁n incredible grounded, faithful, bright light鈥� who encouraged and 鈥渓ifted up those around her.”
鈥淟ight shines in the darkness,鈥� he told the congregation, urging members to love and pray for her parents.
Members of the Brown College Republicans were 鈥渄evastated,鈥� the club’s president, Martin Bertao, said in a .
鈥淓lla was known for her bold, brave, and kind heart as she served her chapter and her fellow classmates,鈥� Bertao said.
Joe Powers, the chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Party, said in a statement that Cook 鈥渆mbodied the very best of the next generation of conservative voices.”
Even the White House acknowledged the death, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt writing in a posted on X, 鈥淭here are no words. Thinking of her family and friends, especially her parents. God please bless them.鈥�
Relatives of Cook didn鈥檛 immediately respond to emails and phone messages seeking comment.
The wounded recover in hospitals
Only one of the nine people wounded had been released as of Sunday, Brown President Christina Paxson said. One was in critical condition and the other seven were in critical but stable condition.
Durham Academy, a private K-12 school in Durham, North Carolina, confirmed that a recent graduate, Kendall Turner, was critically wounded. The school said her parents were with her.
鈥淥ur school community is rallying around Kendall, her classmates, and her loved ones, and we will continue to offer our full support in the days ahead,鈥� the school said in a statement.
Another wounded student, 18-year-old freshman Spencer Yang of New York City, told and the from a hospital bed that there was a mad scramble after the gunman entered the room where he and the other students were studying for finals. Many students ran toward the front of the room, but Yang said he wound up on the ground between some seats and was shot in the leg.
Yang, who expects to be discharged in the coming days, said he tried to keep some of the more seriously wounded students conscious until police arrived.
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