Police have person of interest in custody over fatal US university shooting

Hundreds of officers scoured the campus and nearby neighbourhoods in pursuit of a gunman who opened fire in a classroom (Steven Senne/AP)

Police in the US said they had a person of interest in custody after a shooting that rocked a Rhode Island university campus during final exams, leaving two people dead and nine others wounded.

Colonel Oscar Perez, chief of the Providence police, confirmed at a news conference that the detained person was aged in their 30s and that authorities were not currently searching for anyone else in connection with the Brown University incident.