At 4:22 p.m. on what should have been an ordinary December afternoon, gunfire erupted inside the engineering building at Providence College.
Students preparing for final exams found themselves barricaded in classrooms as text alerts warned, “Hide. Stay where you are. Silence your phone.”
This week on “Zone 7,” Sheryl McCollum and retired FBI Special Agent Scott Duffey revisit the Providence College shooting, where a day of finals spiraled into chaos and tragedy. Together, they discuss the confusion inside the building, the calm suspect caught on camera, and the observant witness whose attention to detail helped identify him.
Sheryl and Scott examine what went right, what went wrong, and how information, instinct, and timing shaped the investigation.
Guest Bio
Scott Duffey is a retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent with more than two decades of service in the Bureau’s Baltimore Division, including assignments with the Wilmington Resident Agency and the Delaware Violent Crimes Task Force.
He now directs the Criminal Justice Institute at Wilmington University, where he teaches interview and interrogation techniques to law enforcement professionals. Duffey also provides on-air crime analysis for FOX, CNN, NewsNation, and the Wildlife CSI Academy, continuing to educate, inform, and engage audiences worldwide.
About the Host
Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an active crime scene investigator for a Metro Atlanta Police Department and the director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, which partners with colleges and universities nationwide.
With more than 4 decades of experience, she has worked on thousands of cold cases using her investigative system, The Last 24/361, which integrates evidence, media, and advanced forensic testing. Her work on high-profile cases, including The Boston Strangler, Natalie Holloway, Tupac Shakur and the Moore’s Ford Bridge lynching, led to her Emmy Award for “CSI: Atlanta,” and induction into the National Law Enforcement Hall of Fame in 2023.
Social Links:
• Email: coldcase2004@gmail.com
• Twitter: @149zone7
• Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum
• Instagram: @officialzone7podcast
Preorder Sheryl’s upcoming book, Swans Don’t Swim in a Sewer: Lessons in Life,Justice, and Joy from a Forensic Scientist, releasing May 2026 from Simon and Schuster.
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Swans-Dont-Swim-in-a-Sewer/Sheryl-Mac-McCollum/9798895652824
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[Feature Photo: A bouquet of flowers rests on snow, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, on the campus of Brown University not far from where a shooting took place, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)]