PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Three students injured in the December 13 shooting at Brown University filed lawsuits against the school in Rhode Island Superior Court last week, alleging that the university failed to maintain reasonable and appropriate security measures. The lawsuits were filed on behalf of three first-year students referred to as J. Doe.

The complaints state that the students were seriously injured and have suffered physical and mental pain, medical expenses and emotional distress. One of the lawsuits states that as a direct and proximate result of Brown University's alleged negligence, a plaintiff suffered grave and severe personal injuries and great pain of body, mind, nerves and nervous system.

The lawsuits allege that a custodian reported that Claudio Neves Valente had been casing the Barus and Holley building but the university did not investigate the reports. According to the complaints, the custodian saw Valente pacing hallways, peering into classrooms and moving in and out of bathrooms in a manner he considered suspicious. The lawsuits also allege that a second witness saw the shooter behaving suspiciously hours before the shooting and provided police with information about his appearance and movements.

The lawsuits call the shooting a product of extended planning and argue that the university should have taken heightened security measures before the attack. The complaints point to a lack of security cameras around the Barus and Holley building.

"Out of respect for the privacy interests of the plaintiffs, we have no details to share on the merits of the litigation at this time," said Brian E. Clark, Brown University vice president for news and strategic campus communications. "We are committed to the safety and security of our community and to supporting the path to recovery and repair for our students, faculty, staff and members of the broader community," he said.

According to law enforcement, Valente, 48, entered a study session in a Brown University academic building on December 13 and opened fire on students. He killed 19-year-old sophomore Ella Cook and 18-year-old freshman Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and wounded nine others. Valente had been a graduate student at Brown studying physics about 20 years earlier.

Two days after the campus shooting, Valente fatally shot Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro at Loureiro's Boston-area home. Authorities say Valente was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a New Hampshire storage facility days later. An autopsy determined that Valente died on December 16, the same day Loureiro died in a hospital.

After the shooting, the president of Brown placed the campus police on leave during a review of the university's security policies. Much of the focus following the attack has centered on whether security cameras were installed in the building where the shooting took place and the ease of accessing campus buildings.