What we know about the shooting
- The suspect in the weekend shooting at Brown University is dead, law enforcement officials said.
- Officials said Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, appeared to die from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was found dead in a storage facility in New Hampshire.
- He is also suspected of killing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor in Brookline, Massachusetts, days after the Rhode Island violence. Officials said it appeared the men attended the same university in Portugal.
- He had no current affiliation with the university but was enrolled at Brown from fall 2000 to spring 2001 in a Ph.D. program.
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Video evidence linked suspect to both Brown Univ. shooting and MIT professor killing
Security video and financial evidence linked the Brown University shooting to the MIT professor who was shot and killed in his home, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts said.
Investigators identified the vehicle that the suspect had rented and drove from Boston to Brown University and back to Boston, U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said.
MIT Professor was a 'brilliant scientist' admired by students, his university in Portugal says
Nuno Loureiro was not only a brilliant scientist, "he was also a presence that deeply marked everyone who worked and lived alongside him," his former employer in Portugal has said in a tribute.
Before joining Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016, the 47-year-old from Portugal was a renowned researcher at the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion at IST Lisbon.
"His constant generosity in reflecting with us on universities and his profoundly human nature, the role of error in learning, and his complete openness in sharing his vision and experience inspired and guided many of us at IST and at MIT—faculty and students alike," wrote Professor Luis Silva.
"The combination of all these talents in one person is something very rare, and it was one of the main reasons Nuno was so valued and admired by both colleagues and students," he added.
What else did the Reddit tipster post online?
The tipster whose Reddit posts “blew the case wide open,” according to officials, posted a number of other messages on the social media platform related to his encounters with the alleged shooter on Dec. 13.
The witness, only named in the affidavit as “John,” told police he saw the alleged shooter in the bathroom of the Barus and Holley building and followed him to a vehicle outside where he noted its Florida plates, according to a police affidavit.
Though no other posts were included in the document, an account believed to belong to the same person wrote in another message, “There was nothing subtle about the way he retreated from his car and I am glad I approached and saw the Florida license plate.”
Told by another user, “I think you’re on to [sic] something,” he replied, “Thank you and respectfully I know I am.” He said he had been interviewed by Providence and Rhode Island State Police, “and I imagine the FBI were listening in another room.” He said he would not be posting further messages or responding to media requests.
Trump suspends green card lottery program that allowed Brown, MIT shooting suspect to enter U.S.
President Donald Trump suspended the green card lottery program on Thursday that allowed the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to come to the United States.
The diversity visa program makes up to 50,000 green cards available each year by lottery to people from countries that are little represented in the U.S., many of them in Africa.
The lottery was created by Congress, and the move is almost certain to invite legal challenges.
Brown Health urges those affected to ‘reach out to loved ones, friends, or trusted professionals’
Brown University Health, which is a partner with Rhode Island Hospital where victims of the Brown University shooting were treated, said today that the system’s hearts are with those affected by the shooting.
“Our hearts are with the patients and families we have treated and continue to treat, the victims and the entire community of Brown University, Providence, and Rhode Island,” Brown University Health said on X.
“We are tremendously grateful to all the first responders and the entire team at Rhode Island Hospital for the life-saving care they provided,” it said.
“We know many of us have been shaken by the events of December 13. We encourage everyone to reach out to loved ones, friends, or trusted professionals to share feelings, fears, and support,” Brown University Health said.
Rhode Island Hospital is the state’s only Level One Trauma Center.
What we know about the Brown shooting suspect who is also accused of killing MIT professor
The man suspected of killing two students and wounding nine others in a shooting at Brown University before fatally shooting a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor days later was found dead today in a New Hampshire storage unit, officials said.
The suspect, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, died by suicide, Providence, Rhode Island, Police Chief Oscar Perez told reporters Thursday.
Valente, who is also accused of killing an MIT professor days after the Rhode Island campus shooting, was found in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, roughly 80 miles north of Providence, that authorities had obtained warrants to search, said Ted Docks, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston field office.
DHS secretary Noem says she's directing a pause for visa program after Brown shooting
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said tonight she is directing a pause to a “diversity immigrant visa” after it was revealed the Brown shooting suspect got one in the past.
Valente, 48, a Portuguese national, got a “diversity immigrant visa,” which is a lottery, in 2017, a Providence police detective wrote in an affidavit.
He was granted lawful permanent resident status the same year, the affidavit says.
Valente was previously admitted to the U.S. as an F-1 student to attend a graduate program at Brown in 2000, the affidavit says.
“At President Trump’s direction, I am immediately directing USCIS to pause the DV1 program to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program,” Noem wrote on X.
USCIS is an initialism for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.
Congress passed the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program as part of the Immigration Act of 1990.
The purpose was for a program “specifically for aliens from countries with lower rates of admission as immigrants to the United States,” USCIS says on its website.
President George H.W. Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1990 into law. The law, which passed with bipartisan support, also established a program for skilled workers and temporary protected status for people from countries where disasters or wars have occurred.
Person who gave info on suspect had encounter with him
The person who posted on Reddit about the suspect’s car told investigators that he first encountered the suspect in a bathroom at the Barus and Holley building on Dec. 13 — around two hours before the shooting, documents show.
The person, whose information officials said was vital to the case, told investigators that he recalled the suspect’s clothing was inadequate for the weather.
The person who made the Reddit post and helped police said that he followed the suspect to the Nissan Sentra and that the suspect used a key fob to unlock it but then walked away and took a left, an affidavit in a criminal complaint says.
The two people then encountered each other on George Street, and the suspect ran away, the person told investigators, according to the affidavit.
He caught up to the suspect by speed-walking, the affidavit says.
The person “asked the Suspect, 'Your car is back there, why are you circling the block?’ The Suspect responded, ‘I don’t know you from nobody,’ then Suspect repeatedly asked, ‘Why are you harassing me?’” the affidavit reads.
The Reddit post in question began “I’m being dead serious. The police need to look into a grey Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental,” and described the interaction, according to the document.
Suspect didn't have a criminal record in the U.S.
Valente, the suspect in the Brown University shooting and in the death of an MIT professor, did not have a criminal history, authorities said tonight.
"We are not aware of any criminal record in the United States," U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said.
Valente provided a Florida driver's license to rent the Nissan Sentra in Boston, according to the affidavit. Public records searches in Florida and in Las Vegas, where he was connected to an address, did not indicate any criminal record.
Timeline of suspect before and after shootings
The suspect in the Brown University and MIT professor shootings had rented a hotel room and a car in Boston and drove to Rhode Island on Dec. 1, the U.S. attorney in Boston said.
U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley laid out the following timeline at a news conference tonight, as alleged.
Dec. 1
The suspect, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, rents a Nissan Sentra in Boston and drives to the vicinity of Brown University.
His car is “observed intermittently” between Dec. 1 and Dec. 12.
Dec. 13
Valente opens fire at the physics building at Brown University, during a study session, killing two people and wounding nine others.
Between Dec. 13 and Dec. 14, Valente returns to Massachusetts.
Dec. 15
Valente is accused of killing MIT physics professor Nuno Loureiro at Loureiro’s home in Brookline, a city just outside Boston.
Valente then switches the plates to an unregistered plate out of Maine.
“Immediately following Professor Loureiro’s murder, Neves Valente drove to a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire,” Foley said.
Valente had rented the storage unit in Salem, which is around 40 miles away by car, in November, she said.
Dec. 18
Valente’s body is found in the storage unit.
