Keystone Kash Patel plunged into scandal as FBI frees soldier, 24, who was named and shamed over Brown shooting
Kash Patel is at the center of another embarrassing fiasco after police released a person of interest detained by the FBI over the mass shooting at Brown University.
The FBI has not caught a suspect for Saturday’s shooting that killed two people, including the vice president of the university’s Republican club, and injured nine others.
The latest misstep by Patel’s FBI comes after the director prematurely announced the suspect responsible for Charlie Kirk shooting had been caught in September. The actual suspect in Kirk’s assassination, Tyler Robinson, was not in custody until more than 24 hours later.
Patel again claimed credit on behalf of the FBI for the capture of the now-released person of interest in the shooting, a 24-year-old Army sniper from Wisconsin.
The soldier – whose name and picture was leaked to the media – allegedly traveling with a firearm from Wisconsin. But just hours after his arrest it was announced he would be freed.
Patel bragged on X about how the FBI tracked down the suspect by utilizing the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team to detain him at a hotel in Rhode Island.
But now the embattled FBI boss is back at square one, with investigative experts saying authorities must review all the evidence again after releasing the person of interest, because whatever led them to that individual was clearly wrong.
Patel has a pattern of prematurely announcing the success of FBI operation in order to gain engagement on social media.
FBI Director Kash Patel is at the center of another embarrassing scandal after prematurely announcing a suspect had been caught over the Brown University shooting
A security camera captures an image of the suspect involved in the mass shooting at Brown University
The FBI have not captured a suspect for the mass shooting
On Halloween morning, he told his followers on X: ‘The FBI thwarted a potential terrorist attack,’ before noting that arrests had occurred in Michigan. However, agents had not yet detained all the suspects involved in the foiled terrorist plot.
Local law enforcement were also not aware of the details and no criminal charges had yet been filed.
Following the Brown shooting arrest, Donald Trump was left humiliated after announced the FBI capture.
Just hours later he was forced to clarify on Truth Social that ‘the suspect is NOT in custody’.
Former FBI Special agent Steve Moore explained that investigators will now need to start from scratch after their leads led to the wrong suspect.
‘You pretty much have to throw out, not the evidence, but the conclusions from the evidence,’ he told CNN. ‘And you start, basically, as if you’re seeing the evidence for the first time and say “Where should this lead us?”‘
Patel faced a furious backlash on social media on Monday following the botched arrest.
One user on X wrote, ‘So Kash Patel provided the tip to the police about the person of interest; posted about it on Twitter; did a full victory lap over it; and then the suspect is released less than 24 hours later and the shooter remains at large. That’s some operation they’re running at the FBI.’
Earlier, 19-year-old Ella Cook was identified as one of the two victims killed in the Saturday afternoon shooting at the Ivy League campus.
Following her death, friends of Cook noted she was the vice president of Brown College Republicans club.
Rhode Island Mayor Brett Smiley and Attorney General of Rhode Island Peter Neronha brief the media that they are releasing one person of interest following a deadly mass shooting at Brown University.
The release of the lone person of interest leaves law enforcement without a known suspect, with officials pledging to redouble efforts in the investigation by canvassing for video surveillance that could help identify the gunman.
‘We have a murderer out there,’ Attorney General Peter Neronha said.
Patel was grilled by Democratic lawmakers back in September on the House Judiciary Committee over a variety of FBI controversies, including Patel his firing of dozens of FBI agents and his leadership during the Kirk shooting.
Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett hammered the FBI director at the time by claiming the agency would not have captured Tyler Robinson for killing Kirk ‘if it wasn’t for parents deciding they were going to turn in their child, it seems like y’all wouldn’t have got there, even though he literally confessed online.’
Pater later responded to the criticism in the hearing by arguing, ‘I don’t give a damn what they say about me as long as I’m succeeding in the mission.’
House Democrats are also investigating Patel over allegedly misusing the FBI’s Gulfstream private jet for personal trips, such as flying to Pennsylvania in October for his girlfriend’s concert at a wrestling match at Penn State.
The FBI director also reportedly used the same jet for a trip to a luxury Texas hunting resort called ‘Boondoggle Ranch.’
