By Rich McKay and Helen Coster
Dec 15 (Reuters) – One student dreamt of becoming a neurosurgeon after surviving brain surgery as a child. The other was hailed by friends at an ice cream shop where she worked as destined for greatness. Both had earned their way to Brown University in Rhode Island, carrying hopes that stretched far beyond campus.
On Saturday, those hopes were shattered when they were killed in a campus shooting that wounded seven others, sending shockwaves through the Ivy League community and the hometowns that had celebrated their achievements.
On Monday tributes began to pour in for the two students as authorities pursued a manhunt for the shooter.
Ella Cook, 19, was a sophomore from Mountain Brook, Alabama. Sophie Grace Rhodes, who worked with Cook at an ice cream shop there, said Cook’s coworkers were proud of her for going to a prestigious Ivy League school.
“We would tell a customer, ‘This girl is about to go to Brown …. She’s about to be one of the greatest people ever,” Rhodes told ABC 33/40, a Birmingham, Alabama, TV station.
Cook was the vice president of the College Republicans club at Brown and a “leading Republican voice at Brown,” according to an X post from the New York Republicans Club.
On Sunday Cook was mourned at the Cathedral of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama, where she was a parishioner.
FROM UZBEKISTAN TO BROWN: A LIFE OF PROMISE CUT SHORT
Freshman Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, moved with his family as a child from Uzbekistan and attended high school in Virginia. An aspiring neurosurgeon, he was described by his family as “incredibly kind, funny and smart” and the family’s “biggest role model,” according to a GoFundMe campaign.
“He always lent a helping hand to anyone in need without hesitation, and was the most kind-hearted person our family knew,” the family wrote.
“Our family is incredibly devastated by this loss.”
Umurzokov double-majored in biochemistry and neuroscience and was inspired to become a doctor after undergoing brain surgery at age 10, according to media accounts.
He was a straight-A student and participated in the Model United Nations, Quizbowl and debate club, those accounts say. He took Advanced Placement classes in high school and earned a scholarship to Brown.
His family moved to the Richmond, Virginia, suburb of Midlothian after immigrating from Uzbekistan to the United States in 2009, first settling in Brooklyn, New York.
At his May high school graduation ceremony from Midlothian High School, Umurzokov was recognized as one of the Top 10 students in his class, according to a video from the ceremony.
On Monday the American Uzbekistan Association posted on Instagram that Umurzokov “will be remembered for his kindness, his potential, and the light he brought into the lives of others. His memory will endure.”
“Rest in peace Aziz. You will not be forgotten.”
(Reporting by Helen Coster and Maria Tsvetkova in New York and Rich McKay in Atlanta. Editing by Donna Bryson and Howard Goller)
