A deadly shooting during finals week at Brown University in Rhode Island and an antisemitic terrorist attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach during a Hanukkah celebration have together left at least 18 people dead and dozens wounded, sharpening debates about gun violence, ideology and security in countries long seen as having relatively strict firearms laws.
Authorities in the United States and Australia are continuing parallel investigations into two high‑profile attacks that unfolded days apart and have drawn international attention to gun violence and extremist threats.
At Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, a gunman opened fire in the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building during final‑exam preparations on December 13, 2025. Two students were killed and nine others wounded, according to university and law‑enforcement officials, who described the incident as a mass shooting on an open campus during exam week. (apnews.com)
The victims were identified as Brown students Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov. Cook, a sophomore from Birmingham, Alabama, served as vice president of Brown's College Republicans, according to statements from the university community and Republican organizations. (nypost.com)
Investigators initially detained a man in his 30s at a hotel in Coventry, about 20 miles from Providence, describing him as a “person of interest” and recovering firearms from the scene, according to police briefings reported by multiple outlets. (wbrz.com) Subsequent reporting from national outlets, including Reuters and The Washington Post, indicates that the man was later cleared by forensic evidence and released, and that the shooter remains at large. (reuters.com)
Officials say the attack began shortly after 4 p.m. in a classroom where a review session was underway, prompting a campus‑wide lockdown and a massive manhunt involving local police, the FBI and other federal agencies. At least seven of the injured were initially reported in critical or critical‑but‑stable condition. (apnews.com) Brown University has suspended exams and tightened access to campus buildings while the investigation continues.
As of mid‑December, authorities have not publicly identified a motive for the Brown shooting. Law‑enforcement statements and major news reports have not confirmed any ideological or political inspiration for the attack, and officials say the motive remains under investigation. (washingtonpost.com)
Less than 48 hours later, on December 14, 2025, a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration near Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, killed at least 15 people and wounded more than 40, according to Australian authorities and local media. (abc.net.au) The attack targeted Jews gathered for an outdoor religious event and has been formally designated a terrorist incident.
Police say the assailants, a father and son, opened fire on crowds near Archer Park beside Bondi Beach during an evening Hanukkah gathering attended by hundreds. New South Wales Police and Australian federal officials have said the attack was motivated by antisemitism and inspired by Islamic State‑style extremism. (news.com.au) One of the gunmen was killed by police, while the other was critically injured and taken into custody. (kpbs.org)
Accounts from officials and witnesses indicate that improvised explosive devices and Islamic State flags were recovered in connection with the Bondi attack, although the bombs did not detonate. (news.com.au) The attack has been described by Australian authorities as the country’s deadliest terrorist incident and its worst mass shooting since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, which prompted sweeping gun‑control reforms. (news.com.au)
Taken together, the Brown and Bondi attacks have left at least 18 people dead and roughly 50 injured, based on official and media tallies from both countries. (en.wikipedia.org) The incidents have intensified political and public debate over how to address both gun access and extremist ideologies in societies that already have comparatively strict firearms regulations.
Rhode Island has one of the lowest firearm death rates in the United States, a statistic often cited by gun‑policy researchers and referenced in recent coverage of the Brown shooting. (en.wikipedia.org) Australia, meanwhile, is frequently noted for the national gun‑law overhaul enacted after Port Arthur, including buybacks and tight restrictions on certain categories of firearms. (en.wikipedia.org) Yet officials and commentators across the political spectrum have stressed that even robust legal frameworks cannot entirely prevent rare but devastating attacks.
On the U.S. talk show The View, co‑host Sunny Hostin, reacting to both the Brown and Bondi violence, described the events as evidence of "sickness and hatred" spreading around the world, according to a segment highlighted by the Daily Wire. (dailywire.com) Her comments, and subsequent criticism from conservative commentators, underscore the broader argument over whether such episodes should be viewed primarily through the lens of gun policy, ideology or a combination of both.
As investigations proceed in Providence and Sydney, officials in both countries face renewed calls for national‑level responses—ranging from further tightening of gun laws and strengthening campus and public‑space security to more aggressive monitoring of extremist networks—amid continued grief in the affected communities.
