By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and KATHY McCORMACK

An aspiring neurosurgeon and a student leader of Brown University’s campus Republicans were in a study group preparing for an economics final, with the end of the semester in sight.

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But the lives of MukhammadAziz Umurzokov and Ella Cook were cut short Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside a classroom in the engineering building. Nine others were wounded before the gunman fled. Investigators were still searching for him Monday.

As questions swirled about the gunman’s motives and how he managed to walk away after the attack, relatives and friends of Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman from Brandermill, Virginia, and Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, tried to make sense of the loss.

MukhammadAziz Umurzokov

Umurzokov decided at a young age that he wanted to go into medicine.

He made up his mind after suffering a neurological condition that required him to undergo surgery as a child and having to wear a back brace due to scoliosis. With a double-major in biochemistry and neuroscience, he hoped to go to medical school.

“He had so many hardships in his life, and he got into this amazing school and tried so hard to follow through with the promise he made when was 7 years old,” his sister, Samira Umurzokova, told The Associated Press by phone Monday.

Umurzokov was helping a friend at an economics final review session when someone walked into the classroom and began shooting.

“It’s just crazy unfair that all of that was taken from him in a second because of someone,” Umurzokova said.

He took it upon himself to help students who just immigrated to the United States and weren’t fully acclimated to the culture and language, said Umurzokova, whose family came to the country from Uzbekistan when she, her brother and sister were very young.

She said he would be using his phone at the dinner table and when his parents told him to put it away, he would say, ”‘No, I’m helping my friend with calculus homework.’”

When he wasn’t busy with schoolwork, he would play video games with friends and hang out at a book store with family. He had plans to take his sisters to see the movie “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” which comes out Friday.

“He was a thoughtful person,” Umurzokova said. “He always tried to include everyone in everything. and just always thought of other people before he thought of himself.”

Ella Cook

Cook, of Mountain Brook, Alabama, was beloved in her Birmingham church and was vice president of the Brown College Republicans.

When announcing her death Sunday to the Cathedral Church of the Advent congregation, the Rev. R. Craig Smalley described her as “an incredible grounded, faithful, bright light” who encouraged and “lifted up those around her.”

“Light shines in the darkness,” he told the congregation, urging members to love and pray for her parents.

Members of the Brown College Republicans were “devastated,” the club’s president, Martin Bertao, said in a post on X.

“Ella was known for her bold, brave, and kind heart as she served her chapter and her fellow classmates,” Bertao said.

Joe Powers, the chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Party, said in a statement that Cook “embodied the very best of the next generation of conservative voices.”

Even the White House acknowledged the death, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt writing in a message posted on X, “There are no words. Thinking of her family and friends, especially her parents. God please bless them.”

Relatives of Cook didn’t immediately respond to emails and phone messages seeking comment.

The wounded recover in hospitals

Only one of the nine people wounded had been released as of Sunday, Brown President Christina Paxson said. One was in critical condition and the other seven were in critical but stable condition.

Durham Academy, a private K-12 school in Durham, North Carolina, confirmed that a recent graduate, Kendall Turner, was critically wounded. The school said her parents were with her.

“Our school community is rallying around Kendall, her classmates, and her loved ones, and we will continue to offer our full support in the days ahead,” the school said in a statement.

Another wounded student, 18-year-old freshman Spencer Yang of New York City, told the New York Times and the Brown Daily Herald from a hospital bed that there was a mad scramble after the gunman entered the room where he and the other students were studying for finals. Many students ran toward the front of the room, but Yang said he wound up on the ground between some seats and was shot in the leg.

Yang, who expects to be discharged in the coming days, said he tried to keep some of the more seriously wounded students conscious until police arrived.

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Monday in a court filing that the president’s White House ballroom construction project must continue for reasons of national security.

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The filing came in response to a lawsuit filed last Friday by the National Trust for Historic Preservation asking a federal judge to halt the project until it goes through multiple independent reviews and wins approval from Congress.

In its filing, the administration included a declaration from the deputy director of the U.S. Secret Service saying more work on the site of the former White House East Wing is still needed to meet the agency’s “safety and security requirements.” The administration has offered to share classified details with the judge in an in-person setting without the plaintiffs present.

The government’s response to the lawsuit offers the most comprehensive look yet at the ballroom construction project, including a window into how it was so swiftly approved by the Trump administration bureaucracy and its expanding scope.

The filings assert that final plans for the ballroom have yet to be completed despite the ongoing demolition and construction work. Below-grade demolition of the site continues, wrote John Stanwich, the Park Service’s liaison to the White House, and work on the foundations is set to begin in January. Above-grade construction “is not anticipated to begin until April 2026, at the earliest,” he wrote.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded group, is asking the U.S. District Court to block Trump’s ballroom addition until it goes through comprehensive design reviews, environmental assessments, public comments and congressional debate and ratification.

Trump had the East Wing torn down in October as part of the project to build an estimated $300 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom before his term ends in 2029.

The project has prompted criticism in the historic preservation and architectural communities, and among his political adversaries, but the lawsuit is the most tangible effort thus far to alter or stop the president’s plans for an addition that itself would be nearly twice the size of the White House before the East Wing’s demolition.

A hearing in the case was scheduled Tuesday in federal court in Washington.

Anthony Geary, who rose to fame in the 1970s and ’80s as half the daytime TV super couple Luke and Laura on “General Hospital,” has died. He was 78.

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“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Anthony Geary, whose portrayal of Luke Spencer helped define General Hospital and daytime television,” ABC said in a statement confirming his death.

Geary died Sunday in Amsterdam of complications from a surgical procedure three days prior.

“The entire ‘General Hospital’ family is heartbroken over the news of Tony Geary’s passing,” Frank Valentini, executive producer of the ABC show, said in a statement Monday. “Tony was a brilliant actor and set the bar that we continue to strive for.”

In a career spanning more than 40 years, Geary earned eight Daytime Emmy awards as Luke Spencer after joining the soap in 1978. Luke’s pairing with Genie Francis’ Laura Webber Baldwin (as she was known at the time) propelled the two onto magazine covers and into the cultural mainstream.

The 1981 wedding of Luke and Laura was a pop culture phenom done in two parts, drawing guest appearances that included Elizabeth Taylor. A record 30 million viewers watched.

“He was a powerhouse as an actor. Shoulder to shoulder with the greats. No star burned brighter than Tony Geary. He was one of a kind. As an artist, he was filled with a passion for the truth, no matter how blunt, or even a little rude it might be, but always hilariously funny,” Francis said in a statement.

In addition to his role as Luke, Geary had numerous TV and stage credits, including stints on other soaps: “The Young and the Restless” and “Bright Promise.” Geary played Luke on and off until 2015, though he returned for a cameo in 2017.

He lived a quiet life with husband Claudio Gama in Amsterdam.

In a 1993 interview, Geary spoke of the many highs and lows of playing Luke.

“I felt like I had to be Luke 24 hours a day or people would be disappointed,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, they are mythic creatures. They come from two sides of the universe together and have a mutual connection, which is basically lust and appreciation for individuality. They love the eccentricity in each other.”

Geary’s Luke began as a small-time hitman recruited to dismantle the relationship of Laura and her first husband, Scotty Baldwin. Their story arc turned darker when Luke sexually assaulted Laura. The assault led to a redemption trail for Luke, who evolved into a hero and even served as mayor of the show’s small town, Port Charles.

“He was not created to be a heroic character,” Geary told ABC’s “Nightline” in 2015. “He was created to be an anti-hero, and I have treasured the anti-side of the hero and pushed it for a long time. … He’s not a white hat or a black hat, he’s all shades of grey. And that has been the saving grace of playing him all these years.”

Geary was born to Mormon parents in Coalville, Utah. He was discovered while attending the University of Utah and performing on stage. He joined a touring company of “The Subject was Roses,” which brought him to Los Angeles.

Over the years, he appeared frequently in stage productions alongside his screen work.

Geary’s first appearance on TV was as Tom Whalom on an episode of “Room 222.” He went on to appear in “All in the Family,” “The Partridge Family,” “The Mod Squad,” “Marcus Welby, M.D.,” “The Streets of San Francisco” and “Barnaby Jones.”

By ALEXA ST. JOHN

DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. is pivoting away from its once-ambitious electric vehicle plans amid financial losses and waning consumer demand for the vehicles in lieu of investment in more efficient gasoline-engines and hybrid EVs, the company said Monday.

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The Detroit-based automaker, which has poured billions of dollars into electrification along with most of its industry peers, said it will no longer make the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, instead opting for an extended range version of the vehicle.

Ford will also introduce some manufacturing changes; its Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center — part of the BlueOval City campus and once the future of Ford’s EVs and batteries — is being renamed the Tennessee Truck Plant and will produce new affordable gas-powered trucks instead. Ford’s Ohio Assembly Plant will produce a new gas and hybrid van.

The company has lost $13 billion on EVs since 2023 and said it expects to take a $19.5 billion hit largely in the fourth quarter due to the EV business.

“This is a customer-driven shift to create a stronger, more resilient and more profitable Ford,” CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. “The operating reality has changed, and we are redeploying capital into higher-return growth opportunities: Ford Pro, our market-leading trucks and vans, hybrids and high-margin opportunities like our new battery energy storage business.”

Ford said it now expects half of its global volume will be hybrids, extended-range EVs — which also incorporate a gasoline-powered engine — and full EVs by 2030, up from 17% this year.

“Ford’s elimination of the electric F-150 Lightning is not much of a surprise after the truck failed to come close to filling the plant’s capacity. Ford’s choice to convert an existing gas-powered truck to accept the electric drivetrain helped reduce their upfront costs which, in hindsight, was the right move,” Sam Fiorani, vice president at AutoForecast Solutions, told The Associated Press.

“For months, the future of Blue Oval City has been in question and this announcement locks in the direction of this large plant,” Fiorani added. “Adding an affordable vehicle to the Ford lineup fills a glaring gap in the market.”

Several other automakers have made changes to their electrified product plans in recent years as consumer demand for EVs in the U.S. hasn’t quite met expectations.

EVs accounted for about 8% of new vehicles sales in the U.S. last year, but factors such as cost and charging infrastructure remain concerns for mainstream buyers.

The average transaction price for a new EV last month was $58,638, compared with $49,814 for a new vehicle overall, according to auto buying resource Kelley Blue Book.

Meanwhile, while public charging availability has improved, the industry has relied on home charging as a selling point for prospective buyers, and not everyone has access to charging at-home.

Since taking office for a second time, President Donald Trump has drastically shifted U.S. policy away from EVs, calling EV-friendly policy set under former President Joe Biden a “mandate.”

Though Biden-era policies — including generous tax incentives for consumers, and tailpipe and fuel economy rules for automakers — encouraged EV adoption, no policies required the industry to sell or Americans to buy EVs. Biden targeted half of new vehicle sales in the U.S. to be electric by 2030.

The Trump administration has since slashed that target, eliminated EV tax credits and proposed weakening the emissions and gas mileage rules.

“The one-two punch of the public’s slow EV adoption and the Trump administration’s softer stance on fuel economy and emissions has encouraged every automaker to re-think their current direction,” Fiorani added. “Electric vehicles are still the future, but the transition to EVs was always going to take longer than automakers have been promising the public.”

Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.