‘Survivor’ star who attends Brown U. feels protected regardless of campus shooter’s escape

Brown pupil / ‘Survivor’ star
Lightning does not strike twice…
Keep on the town whereas looking for the shooter

Printed December 16, 2025 2:29 PM PST

“Survivor” Season 48 contestant Eva Erickson narrowly averted the gunman who opened fireplace at Brown College Saturday afternoon, however she says she is not too involved about one other taking pictures there.

Watch our interview – the Ph.D. candidate says she feels “protected” whereas in her off-campus residence in Windfall, Rhode Island, as a result of she assumes the attacker is “lengthy gone,” reasoning… “Lightning does not strike the identical place twice.” Then again, she notes that the concept is “horrible” as a result of it feels just like the shooter bought away.

There may be an intense manhunt for the shooter by native and federal authorities, and the FBI is providing a $50,000 reward for info within the ongoing case. Windfall Mayor Brett Smiley informed ABC Information authorities on Monday that they “proceed to obtain zero credible threats to our group, Brown or the broader group,” which he actually observed some flack for because the suspect continues to be on the run.

Though Eva usually feels protected, she tells TMZ that she and her colleagues have simply as a lot info as most people, and that the lack of know-how in regards to the attacker places everybody “on edge.” She yearns for solutions to easy questions: how and the way such a tragedy may have occurred.

She is aware of one factor for positive: one thing has to vary. Eva says it is “loopy” college students who’re so susceptible to gun violence in America, noting… “I simply needed to go to highschool and be taught and have this group and be protected. And now that is been taken away from me.’ Whereas she says she does not have the solutions, she appears to be like to lawmakers who’re higher outfitted to advocate for gun security rules.

As a substitute of instantly fleeing the world after the horrific taking pictures, Eva stayed behind and helped her buddies and hockey teammates — she is captain of the lads’s membership hockey staff — transfer out of their dorm, and she or he plans to be again house along with her mother and father in Minnesota for Christmas.

She was additionally in a position to unfold some cheer as bullets terrorized college students on one other a part of campus, telling TMZ that she met some “Survivor” followers who had been cooped up along with her within the faculty’s indoor observe and basketball facility. She says she cherished “placing a smile on somebody’s face as we’re all on this actually scary scenario.”

And when you’re questioning whether or not second place on the hit CBS sequence mentally ready her for nearly contact with a shooter, the reply is a tough no. The scholar and athlete explains that she by no means felt unsafe in the course of the present, and that nothing may have ready her for such concern.

Erica is engaged on her Ph.D. in engineering and fluid and thermal sciences from Brown. She defined on social media that she had determined on the final minute to depart her analysis workplace to go to the health club – which she by no means does within the afternoon – and due to this fact missed the shooter by 5 minutes.