Friends, family remember students slain in Brown shooting

An aspiring neurosurgeon and a college sophomore remembered as a “bright light” by her church community died Saturday when a gunman entered a building on Brown University campus in Providence, Rhode Island, and began shooting. Nine of their classmates were injured in the shooting, some critically. As the manhunt for the gunman stretched into its third day, friends, family and members of their communities mourned Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov. Ella Cook, 19, grew up in Mountain Brook, Alabama, just east of Birmingham.  She was a parishioner at Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham. In a service at the church Sunday morning, the Rev. Craig Smalley honored Cook as an “incredible, grounded, faithful, bright light” to all who knew her, “not only here growing up at the Advent and the myriad ways in which she served faithfully, in the ways in which she encouraged and lifted up those around her, but at Brown University, she was an incredible light in that particular place, as well.” At Brown, Cook was vice president of the College Republicans, according to a statement released by the campus organization’s president, Martin Bertao. “Ella was known for her bold, brave, and kind heart as she served her fellow classmates. Our prayers are with her family, our Brown’s CR’s, and the entirety of the campus as they heal from this tragedy,” Bertao posted on X. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said Monday that she directed flags to be flown at half-staff until sunset Friday in honor of…

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