As the manhunt continues for the Brown University shooter who claimed two lives, more stories are emerging about the students impacted by the senseless violence. One example came from Survivor 48’s Eva Erickson. She was on campus the day that it happened, and she revealed that it was just a case of luck that she wasn’t closer to the chaos.
Survivor’s Eva Erickson says she was “so extremely lucky”
The shooting at Brown University happened on Saturday, December 13, in the Barus and Holley engineering building. A man dressed in all black shot two people and wounded nine others. Eva, who was the runner-up on Survivor 48, is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Brown studying engineering and fluid and thermal science.
A few hours after the shooting, Eva took to her Instagram Story to let her followers know that she was safe and sound. Entertainment Weekly captured all of the details.
“I am safe,” Eva began. “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.”
In a follow-up post, recorded while in lockdown in the university’s athletic center, Eva explained that she left work earlier than usual to go to the gym after an “unproductive” day in the office. That random decision to leave a few minutes early might have saved her. She said she feels “extremely lucky” because of it.
“I left, and about 20 minutes later, we get the warning,” Eva recalled. “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.”
The Survivor 48 alum spent hours holed up with other students inside the athletic center while SWAT teams secured the area. She felt thankful to be safe, but frustrated that this is something that is a recurring issue in America.
“I really appreciate the thoughts and prayers that everyone’s sending, but we need more than thoughts and prayers,” Eva said. “This is ridiculous that as college students…we have to worry about someone shooting up our classrooms.”
Survivor airs on CBS and is available to stream on Paramount+.
TELL US – WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO EVA’S CLOSE CALL IN THE BROWN UNIVERSITY SHOOTING? DO YOU HAVE ANY WORDS OF SUPPORT FOR THOSE IMPACTED BY THE VIOLENCE?
