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Alex Rasalabe '10 was arrested and held by Providence police on $25,000 bail Friday for attempting to poach Brown's beloved mascot, Bruno the Bear, in Roger Williams Park.
Bruno, also known as Lorianne Marks '08, was shot three times in the shoulder and was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital. She was released two days later.
Wild game expert Bill Huntington noted that, "if Rasalabe had shot an actual brown bear, the bear would have died… his accuracy was remarkable considering the snowy conditions of the hill from which he stationed himself.
"Marks was lucky that she didn't fit the Bruno suit," according to emergency physician Phil Terdok. "Those three bullets hit her shoulder only because the poacher aimed for the bear's heart, instead of the bear's abdomen."
According to sources that wished to remain anonymous, Marks, who normally only plays Bruno at select athletic events, used the Bruno suit without permission to support her boyfriend at an illegal "Poker in the Park" competition.
Jonathan York '07 and Nathaniel Jones (Yale '07) were cited for illegal gambling soon after police arrived. Both Yale and Brown Universities have insisted that neither the NCAA nor any university body sanctioned the event.
"He walked down College Hill carrying the biggest hunting rifle
I've ever seen," said witness Max Corning '08. "He didn't seem scared or sorry at all. He wanted to know why he couldn't tie up Bruno to bring back to Perkins [residence hall] to properly stuff it."
Police apprehended Rasalabe soon after the shooting. Detectives found three bullet casings next to the Providence Fire Department, as well as a device described by police as "a female bear mating call emulator."
"How could someone who cannot differentiate between wildlife and sports mascots have ever been accepted to Brown?" student Chris Nguyen asked. "I don't think he knows that he was arrested for attempted murder. He probably thinks he violated a hunting law or something. He told me I could have the bear, but that he enjoys stuffing the animals he kills."
Rasalabe is scheduled to be tried mid-February. The Brown administration has hinted that a Dean's hearing might be scheduled for the young poacher, but punishment will "likely entail enrolling in a course that examines how international students struggle to fit into the culture of American universities in the 21st century."
