Brown University custodian says he reported gunman multiple times before shooting

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — “Really simple. Go with your gut feeling.”

That’s what Brown University custodian Derek Lisi is saying after he noticed and reported a suspicious person on campus numerous times before last weekend’s deadly shooting.

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Lisi told Nexstar’s WPRI that he remembers seeing the alleged gunman more than a dozen times canvassing the Barus and Holley building and surrounding areas before the Dec. 13 attack.

“We interact with the students all the time,” Lisi said. “This hits close to home because it’s our workplace. We spend more time there than we do at home because of the shift that we work.”

Lisi works at the Engineering Research Center, which is a short walk from Barus and Holley, and often goes through the latter on his way to take out the trash.

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“Something kept telling me, ‘Don’t ignore it. Don’t ignore it,'” he said.

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When he warned them Dec. 1, a staff member of that security company told him they were only present to cover an event. Lisi said the university’s Department of Public Safety might have been notified, but he doesn’t know if any other action was taken.

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David Madonna, the company president, said investigating reports of suspicious people is not its job.

“We have nothing to do with watching buildings,” Madonna told the Globe. “Whenever there’s an event at Brown, they hire us to do ID check and capacity counts in their rooms.”

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