In a devastating turn that has left a grieving family and the nation reeling, the father of Ella Cook – one of the two students killed in the December 13, 2025, mass shooting at Brown University – has shared a haunting voice recording his daughter sent him approximately one hour before the fatal incident. “My daughter had a premonition of what was about to happen,” he said in an emotional statement. “She knew something was wrong, but tragically, no miracle occurred to save her.”

Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from Mountain Brook, Alabama, was studying French and mathematics-economics at the prestigious Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island. Described by friends, family, and university officials as a “bright light” – bold, kind, faithful, and intellectually curious – Ella was deeply involved in campus life. She served as vice president of the Brown University College Republicans and was a beloved member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. Her church back home, the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, remembered her as an “incredibly grounded and generous” young woman whose faith shone like a beacon.

The shooting unfolded on a Saturday afternoon during finals week, inside the Barus and Holley engineering building. A lone gunman opened fire on students gathered for study sessions, killing Ella and freshman Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an aspiring neurosurgeon from Uzbekistan known for his kindness and brilliance. Nine others were wounded in the attack, which shocked the quiet campus and the broader community.

The voice message from Ella, sent amid growing unease, adds a layer of profound tragedy to an already unbearable loss. Her father’s words highlight the inexplicable sense of foreboding some victims experience in the moments leading up to such horrors. While details of the recording remain private out of respect for the family, its existence underscores the randomness and cruelty of the violence that claimed two promising young lives.

The gunman, identified as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a former brief Brown physics student from Portugal, was later found dead from a self-inflicted wound in a New Hampshire storage facility. Investigations linked him to a separate fatal shooting of an MIT professor days later, suggesting a pattern of targeted resentment toward academic institutions. Authorities continue to probe his motives, noting premeditated actions like acquiring firearms and avoiding detection.

Brown University President Christina Paxson called the victims “two young people whose amazing promise was extinguished too soon,” emphasizing their brilliance and beloved status among peers. Vigils, lowered flags in Alabama, and tributes from political figures poured in, reflecting widespread mourning.

As the Cook family navigates unimaginable grief, this final message from Ella serves as a poignant reminder of lives cut short and the lingering questions about prevention in an era plagued by campus violence. The community rallies in support, honoring a young woman whose light, though dimmed, continues to inspire those who knew her.