Suspect in Brown University Shooting and MIT Killing Found Dead in New Hampshire Storage Unit
Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, identified as the suspect in the Brown classroom shooting and MIT professor Nuno Loureiro's death, was found dead with a satchel and two firearms; investigators say motive remains unknown.
A man sought in connection with a mass shooting at Brown University and the fatal shooting of an MIT professor was found dead in a New Hampshire storage unit, authorities said Thursday night. The man was identified as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, a Portuguese national who previously attended Brown as a student and was a member of the physics graduate program. Brown University President Christina Paxson said Neves Valente has no current affiliation with the university.
Five days earlier, a gunman opened fire in a first-floor classroom where students were cramming for an exam inside Brown's engineering building in Providence, Rhode Island. The attack killed two people and injured nine others.
Two days after the Brown incident, the same man allegedly shot MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, the director of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center, in his home in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez identified the suspect as Neves Valente. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said Neves Valente was found dead with a satchel and two firearms, and that evidence in the suspect’s car matched evidence collected at the Providence scene.
Officials said a second person who had come in contact with Neves Valente helped steer investigators to his rental car, a key step in locating him. Video footage and the rental-car agreement allowed authorities to identify and track him.
Leah Foley, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, noted that video footage captured someone resembling Neves Valente at Brown and near Loureiro’s home in Brookline.
Loureiro, a member of MIT's physics department, had previously attended the same academic program in Portugal as Neves Valente and knew each other. Officials said there is no information to suggest Neves Valente knew any Brown shooting victims.
Investigations into the motive behind both attacks remain ongoing, with officials stressing that they do not yet know why these events occurred or why Brown was targeted. Authorities have asked for patience as they pursue multiple leads and verify timelines and connections between the two incidents.