Brown University shooting: Suspect found dead, is also accused of killing MIT professor
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Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, was found dead in a storage facility, officials said. He was a physics student at Brown in 2000 but had no current affiliation, officials said.
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.
Nuno Loureiro, professor and director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. Jake Belcher / MIT
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.
Claudio Neves Valente, pictured in CCTV footage released in an affidavit by the Providence Police. Providence Police / via Reuters
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.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. David Crane / MediaNews Group via Getty Images
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.
Video and financial evidence linked Brown, MIT professor shootings
Security video at the apartment complex where an MIT professor was fatally shot Monday linked the Brown University shooting to that crime, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts said.
Investigators identified the vehicle that Valente had rented and drove from Boston to Brown University and back to Boston, U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said.
“And then there was the security footage that captured him within a half-mile of the professor’s residence in Brookline,” she said.
“There is video footage of him entering an apartment building in the location of the professor’s apartment,” Foley said.
“And then later that evening, he is seen, about an hour later, entering the storage unit wearing the same clothes that he had been seen wearing right after the murder,” she said.
Suspect was granted lawful permanent resident status in 2017
Claudio Manuel Neves Valente. Obtained by NBC News
The suspect in the Brown University shooting initially entered the U.S. on a student visa but was granted lawful permanent resident status, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said.
Valente, a Portuguese national, initially had a student visa and applied for and received lawful permanent resident status in 2017, Neronha said.
He attended Brown University in 2000 until April 2001 and studied physics, the university said.
Valente arrived in the U.S. in August 2000 on an F-1 visa to attend Brown. He left the country that December and returned the following month, according to the affidavit.
He was issued a Diversity Immigrant Visa in May 2017, several months before he received lawful permanent resident status, the affidavit said.
Investigators recovered 44 spent shell casings in Brown building
Investigators who processed the scene of the shooting at Brown University recovered numerous spent and unfired shell casings, as well as magazines, according to the affidavit.
Fifteen spent shell casings were found in the hallway of the Barus and Holley building, and 29 were found inside Tanner Auditorium, the affidavit said.
Investigators also found two magazines in the auditorium with capacities of around 30, it said.
Numerous projectiles and projectile fragments were also recovered, it said.
Fed official says Brown suspect also killed MIT professor
The suspect in the Brown shooting is believed to have killed an MIT professor two days after the campus shooting, the U.S. attorney in Boston said.
“On Dec. 15, he murdered Nuno Loureiro at Loureiro’s home in Brookline, Massachusetts,” Leah B. Foley, the U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said at a news conference tonight.
Suspect and slain MIT professor attended same Lisbon university
It is believed that the Brown University shooting suspect attended the same Portuguese university as an MIT professor who was found shot at his Massachusetts home, an FBI official said.
MIT physics professor Nuno Loureiro, 47, was found fatally shot in his Brookline home Monday night, two days after the shooting at Brown, officials said.
“It is believed that in Lisbon that those two individuals attended the same university in Portugal,” Ted Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston field office, said at a news conference tonight.
Loureiro attended Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon and was a researcher at the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion at IST Lisbon before he joined MIT, his bio at MIT says.
The shooting death of Loureiro remains under investigation.
Brookline, a town outside Boston, is about 50 miles north of Brown University by car.
Suspect previously associated with Las Vegas address
Public records matching the suspect's name and date of birth showed that he was associated with a Las Vegas address in 2017. A review of local court records in Las Vegas did not show that he had a criminal history, civil cases or traffic citations there.
Suspect admitted to Brown grad program in 2000, left in 2001
The suspect was admitted to a Brown graduate physics program in the fall of 2000 and took a leave of absence months later before withdrawing, the university’s president said.
Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, was admitted to Brown’s graduate school to study in the master of science Ph.D. program in physics on Sept. 1, 2000, university President Christina H. Paxson said.
He took a leave of absence in April 2001. He formally withdrew effective July 31, 2003, she said.
The suspect enrolled only in physics classes, Paxson said.
The majority of physics classes have always been held in the Barus and Holley building, she said — which is the building where the shooting occurred.
AG says person who had info on suspect 'blew this case right open'
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said a person who had information about the suspect played a crucial role in the case.
Officials released a photo of person they wanted to talk to in the case a little more than 24 hours ago.
Soon after, “that person came forward to two Providence police officers over on the east side and said he had information that he was that person and that he had information that could help this case,” Neronha said.
“He blew this case right open. He blew it open,” Neronha said.
"That person led us to the car, which led us to the name, which led us to the photographs of that individual renting the car, which matched the clothing of our shooter here in Providence, that matched the satchel,” he said.
Judge signed arrest warrant for interstate murder, attorney general says
A judge signed an arrest warrant today, accusing the suspect of interstate murder, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told reporters tonight.
“There won’t be a prosecution now,” Nerhona said, noting that the affidavit in support of the warrant had been posted online.
The affidavit, he said, will “give you a sense of the work that went into this by the line prosecutors and the line agents and detectives from the agencies that work so well together.”
Two guns found with suspect’s body
Two guns were found at the scene where officials discovered the body of the suspect in the Brown University shooting, Rhode Island’s attorney general said.
The body was found in Salem, New Hampshire, officials said. The suspect is believed to have killed himself.
“He was found dead, with a satchel, with two firearms and evidence in the car that matches exactly what we see at the scene here in Providence,” Peter Neronha said.
Feds confirm death of 'Brown University and MIT professor shooter'
Federal officials said tonight that they could confirm the death of the "Brown University and MIT professor shooter," adding that "there’s no longer a threat to the public" in a news statement.
Police said earlier today that they were investigating whether the two shootings were linked.
The U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Leah B. Foley, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are expected to provide additional details at a briefing at 10:30 p.m.
Mayor says Providence 'can finally breathe a little easier'
“Tonight, our Providence neighbors can finally breathe a little easier,” Mayor Brett Smiley said.
“I want to thank the people of Providence for stepping up and coming together during an extraordinarily difficult time,” he said. “I know this has been hard on all of us. Over the past five days, minutes have felt like hours.”
“But the people of Providence have done what we’re best at: We’ve leaned on one another, come together and supported one another,” Smiley said.
Suspect was a 48-year-old former Brown student, police chief says
The suspect accused of killing two Brown University students was a Portuguese national and a student at Brown, Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez told reporters.
Perez said Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, died by suicide tonight. His last known address was in Miami.
Police chief says effort was for the victims
The Providence police chief, Col. Oscar Perez, opened his remarks by offering condolences to the victims.
“It was for them that this work was put together, to make sure that they get the justice that they deserve,” he said.
Person of interest in Brown shooting is found dead
The person of interest in the Brown mass shooting incident is dead in a New Hampshire storage facility, four senior law enforcement officials said tonight.
He appears to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the officials said, adding that he may have been dead for a bit of time.
Officials expected to give updates soon
Authorities are expected to hold a news conference about the Brown University shooting in around 20 minutes.
Massachusetts residents urged to be on lookout for people on foot who appear 'out of place'
Officials in the Massachusetts community of Methuen told residents tonight to be on the lookout for people on foot "who appear out of place, unfamiliar to the area or behaving in a manner that seems unusual or suspicious."
The statement, which the Methuen Police Department posted after law enforcement investigators were seen outside a storage unit in the nearby New Hampshire community of Salem, said federal, state and local authorities are mobilizing resources near the New Hampshire-Massachusetts border.
"This activity is connected to an ongoing effort to locate a suspect in an active investigation into a recent death," the statement says, adding that there is no imminent risk to the public but that residents should remain vigilant.
Methuen and Salem are miles apart on either side of the state line.
The law enforcement presence in Salem is believed to be connected to the Brown University shooting.
Video shows law enforcement at New Hampshire storage unit
Aerial video from NBC Boston showed law enforcement officers outside a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire. Some law enforcement members could be seen in the video with guns drawn and pointed toward the building.
Law enforcement presence in Salem, N.H.
There is a large law enforcement presence in Salem, New Hampshire, according to video and aerial imagery from NBC Boston, which is believed to be in connection with the investigation into the Brown University shooting.
Authorities investigating rental car potentially linked to Brown, MIT professor shootings, sources say
Authorities are looking into whether the same rental vehicle was seen at Brown University around the time of that shooting and near the home of the MIT professor around the time of that shooting, three senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation told NBC News.
That’s one of the potential links investigators are probing to determine whether the two killings are connected, the officials said.
New person of interest identified days after another person of interest was released
The latest person of interest in the Brown University shooting was identified four days after authorities had to take an embarrassing step backward by releasing a man they had detained.
The man taken into custody Sunday morning at a Hampton Inn in Coventry, Rhode Island, was let go because there was “no basis” to consider that he was the shooter, authorities said.
The fruitless apprehension bore a resemblance to the slaying of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, when FBI Director Kash Patel declared that the "subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody.” That statement had to be walked back 90 minutes later.
Person of interest identified in Brown shooting, officials say
Law enforcement has identified a new person of interest in connection with the mass shooting at Brown, three senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation said today.
Officials are still working to determine whether the shooting of the MIT professor and the Brown shooting are linked.
Slain MIT professor was accomplished scientist
Nuno Loureiro, 47, was born and raised in a small city in central Portugal. He studied in Lisbon and London and received a Ph.D. in physics from Imperial College.
He had worked at MIT since 2016. He was a professor in the department of nuclear science and engineering and the department of physics and was also director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, the university said.
Loureiro’s research interests were “theory and computational simulation of nonlinear plasma dynamics,” according to his MIT bio.
Speaking to MIT News in 2018, Loureiro said of leading the Plasma Science and Fusion Center: “It’s not hyperbole to say MIT is where you go to find solutions to humanity’s biggest problems. Fusion is a hard problem, but it can be solved with resolve and ingenuity — characteristics that define MIT. Fusion energy will change the course of human history. It’s both humbling and exciting to be leading a research center that will play a key role in enabling that change.”
Six of the wounded still in the hospital
Six of the nine people wounded in Saturday's attack are still at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence and listed as stable, officials said, as of this afternoon.
The three others have been released.
Two students were killed Saturday: Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov. Cook 19, was a native of Birmingham, Alabama, while Umurzokov, 18, came from Uzbekistan.
Man in knit cap and mask wanted for questioning
Providence police released security camera images yesterday of a person walking past a man authorities have deemed a person of interest.
Police urged the public to take a second look at video of a man walking through the East Side, hours before gunfire erupted at Brown.
In the video, the man is wearing a knit cap and a mask.
“Investigators are asking for the public’s help in identifying and speaking to the individual shown in these photos who was in proximity of the person of interest,” police wrote on X in a post that included images of someone in a short blue coat and a light-colored hoodie.
Police are investigating whether the killing of an MIT professor is connected to the Brown shooting
Police are looking into whether the fatal shooting this week of Loureiro, the MIT professor, in Brookline, Massachusetts, is linked to the mass shooting at Brown, four senior law enforcement officials told NBC News.
At a news conference this week, the FBI said there was nothing at that stage of the investigation to link the two shootings. As the investigations have continued, authorities are exploring additional leads to determine whether there’s a connection.
Loureiro was a world-renowned plasma physicist and fusion scientist who was director of the university’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, according to MIT.
Police asking public to go through their memories, security cameras
Providence police reminded local residents to search their security cameras, as well as their own memories, for any leads in the Brown shooting.
The agency issued a map yesterday that displays where the gunman might have been strolling Saturday, before and immediately after having killed two students.
