Providence Mayor Brett Smiley has been thrust into the national spotlight following the mass shooting at Brown University that killed two students and injured nine more.

The person of interest detained early Sunday in connection with Saturday’s deadly shooting at Brown University is being released, Mayor Brett Smiley announced Sunday night, in a serious blow to the investigation into the attack.

The mass shooting at Brown University has shoved Providence Mayor Brett Smiley into the national spotlight, causing some people, largely outside of the state to ask who he is.

On the Rhode Island Report podcast, Smiley says there is no sign of an ‘ongoing threat,’ and police presence has been stepped up around the Brown campus with help from outside agencies.

Authorities say a person of interest who was in custody in connection with Saturday's Brown University mass shooting is being released. “Shortly, we will be releasing the person of interest who had been detained earlier today," Providence Mayor Brett Smiley announced.

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley and Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez talk to NBC News’ Tom Llamas about the ongoing search for the suspect in the Brown University mass shooting, which killed two and injured nine others.