Survivor 48 runner-up Eva Erickson confirms she is safe despite being present on the Brown University campus when shots rang out in the school’s engineering building.
On Saturday afternoon, a shooter dressed in all black killed at least two people and wounded nine others during final exams on the Ivy League campus, according to the Associated Press. Hours later, the Survivor alum — who is also a doctoral candidate at Brown — took to Instagram to reassure followers that she was doing okay amid the frightening incident.
“I am safe,” Erickson began her initial Instagram Stories update. “Yes, my office at Brown is in the building of the shooting but I was very lucky I left my lab 15 minutes prior to the active shooter alert.”
She later shared additional details in a video posted from lockdown at the school’s Athletic Center.
“The active shooter warning initially went out at 4:22 p.m.,” Erickson began. “The shooting took place in [the] Barus and Holley [Building], which is the building that my office is in. I am so, so extremely lucky that I was very unproductive at work today, because I was in my office in Barus and Holley in that area until 4 p.m.”
Robert Voets/CBS
Eva Erickson on ‘Survivor 48’
Erickson explained that she left work to go to the gym on a sudden impulse.
“I left, and about 20 minutes later, we get the warning,” she shared. “There’s now a rumor that the warning was sent out about 15 minutes after the shooting had started. I was leaving the building within five minutes of the shooter coming in.”
As for the lockdown experience, Erickson shared that lights were turned off and shades were pulled down in the gym, as everyone sheltered in place.
“Everyone sat on the ground getting tons of texts, calls, calling our parents, telling people we love them, texting all of our friends,” she explained. The lights did not come on until four hours later. “They said that they were going to move us. We are able now to look out the windows. There are SWAT teams all over. And they have us take all of our belongings, register who we are, where we were, get a wristband, and they walked us two buildings over to go to the OMAC, so that’s where I currently am.”
At the time of her video message, it was 11 p.m., and the shooter was still at large.
“We have no answers,” Erickson told followers. “Don’t know if we’re going to be here overnight. Do what we gotta do to be safe. I really appreciate the thoughts and prayers that everyone’s sending, but we need more than thoughts and prayers. This is ridiculous that as college students…we have to worry about someone shooting up our classrooms.”
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As of Sunday afternoon, a person of interest has been taken into custody by police. During a news conference following the arrest, Providence police chief Col. Oscar Perez said the individual is in their 20s and that investigators are not searching for anyone else. He declined to say whether the detained person had any connection to Brown, and authorities have yet to release information about a potential motive.
Erickson’s video was met with plenty of support and well-wishes, with plenty of fans and fellow Survivor alums chiming in.
“Just no words,” commented Survivor 48 winner Kyle Fraser. “I’m so so glad you’re safe.”
“Sending love light to those affected,” added season 48 competitor Saiounia “Sai” Hughley.
Wrote season 49 player Steven Ramm, “So glad to hear you’re safe. That must have been so disorienting and terrifying.”
Earlier this year, Erickson had a memorable run on Survivor 48, making history as the show’s first openly autistic competitor. After an eventful season that saw her bring host Jeff Probst to tears and win a high-stakes fire-making contest, Erickson came in second place to Fraser. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in engineering and fluid and thermal science at Brown’s School of Engineering, per the university’s website.
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