A search for the suspect in the recent mass shooting at Brown University concluded on Thursday when authorities discovered Claudio Neves Valente, 48, dead inside a storage facility in New Hampshire. Valente was also linked to the killing of Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Investigators believe Valente died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The shootings began last Saturday when Valente allegedly opened fire in a Brown University lecture hall, killing two students and injuring nine others. He then reportedly killed Professor Loureiro at his Brookline home two days later, approximately 50 miles from Providence, Rhode Island. According to Col. Oscar Perez, the Chief of Police in Providence, Valente acted alone in both incidents.
Brown University President Christina Paxson confirmed that Valente was enrolled as a graduate student from fall 2000 to spring 2001, studying physics. “He has no current affiliation with the university,” Paxson stated. The two men had previously studied in the same academic program at a university in Portugal between 1995 and 2000, as noted by Leah B. Foley, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts.
Loureiro graduated from the physics program at Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal’s leading engineering school, in 2000. That same year, Valente was dismissed from a position at the Lisbon university, according to archived records. He had been studying at Brown on a student visa and obtained legal permanent residence status in September 2017. His last known address was in Miami.
After the suspect’s identity was revealed, President Donald Trump suspended the green card lottery program that allowed Valente to remain in the United States. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha expressed concerns about the motive behind the shootings, stating, “We don’t know why now, why Brown, why these students and why this classroom.”
Investigation Details and Key Developments
The investigation took a crucial turn when a person who encountered Valente provided a tip that led officials to him. “When you do crack it, you crack it. And that person led us to the car, which led us to the name,” Neronha said. After police released images of a person of interest, the witness recognized Valente and shared their suspicions on the social media platform Reddit.
This tip provided key information, including the make and model of a car with Florida plates. Providence police utilized a network of over 70 street cameras managed by surveillance company Flock Safety, which track license plates. Valente attempted to conceal his identity by covering the rental car’s license plate with a Maine plate after leaving Rhode Island.
Footage showed Valente entering an apartment building near Loureiro’s residence before being seen entering a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, about an hour later. He was found with a satchel and two firearms, as reported by Neronha.
Loureiro joined MIT in 2016 and was appointed to lead the school’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, one of its largest laboratories. His research focused on explaining the physics behind astronomical events, such as solar flares. The FBI has stated that there are no known connections between the two shootings.
Although Brown University claims to have approximately 1,200 cameras on campus, the attack occurred in an older part of the engineering building with limited surveillance. Investigators believe the shooter entered and exited through a door facing a residential street, which may explain the lack of recorded footage.
Context and Comparisons to Other Cases
In cases of targeted mass shootings, perpetrators often take their own lives, are killed, or are eventually apprehended by police. Notable examples include the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, where it took investigators four days to locate the suspects, and the recent case involving Army reservist Robert Card, who was found dead two days after a shooting spree in Lewiston, Maine.
The complexities surrounding the motives and identities of mass shooters often lead to lengthy investigative processes. As the investigation into Valente’s actions continues, authorities are working to uncover the factors that led to this tragic series of events. The community is left grappling with the devastating impact of the violence that unfolded at Brown University and the loss of a respected academic at MIT.
