Authorities have publicly identified the man believed to be responsible for a deadly campus shooting at Brown University and the killing of a prominent MIT professor days later.
The suspect, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, was found dead Thursday evening after a tense law enforcement operation in New Hampshire, officials confirmed. Investigators say the 48 year old Portuguese national is believed to have killed two Brown students during a finals week review session before fatally shooting an MIT professor at his home in Massachusetts.
Suspect Linked to Two Campuses, Three Deaths
Providence police identified Neves Valente as the man behind Saturday’s mass shooting at Brown University that left two students dead and nine others wounded. Days later, investigators connected him to the murder of MIT nuclear physics professor Nuno Loureiro in Brookline, roughly 50 miles away.
Neves Valente was discovered Thursday night inside a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, after law enforcement officers surrounded the location for hours. Tactical teams were seen entering the unit shortly before authorities announced his death.
Leah B. Foley, the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, confirmed the circumstances during a separate briefing.
“This evening at approximately 9 p.m., federal agents breached a storage locker in Salem, New Hampshire, in search of Claudio Neves-Valente, a Portuguese national we believed shot and killed two Brown University students and an MIT professor in Brookline, Massachusetts,” she told reporters in a separate news briefing. “Federal agents found Neves-Valente dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
Former Brown Student With No Current Ties
University officials confirmed Neves Valente briefly attended Brown University more than two decades ago. According to Brown President Christina Paxson, he studied physics from the fall of 2000 through the spring of 2001 before taking a leave of absence and ultimately withdrawing in 2003.
Paxson said the suspect once spent significant time inside the same building where the shooting later unfolded.
“I think it’s safe to assume that this man, when he was a student, spent a great deal of time in that building for classes and other activities as a Ph.D. student in physics,”
Paxson said. “He has no current active affiliation with the university or campus presence.”
Records also show a man with the same name was terminated from a monitoring position at Instituto Superior Tecnico in Portugal in 2000. Authorities believe it is the same individual. Notably, that institution is also where MIT professor Nuno Loureiro studied years earlier.
Chaos During Finals Week Study Session
The Brown University shooting occurred around 4 p.m. Saturday during a finals week review session inside the Barus and Holley Building on the eastern edge of campus. The building has long been used for physics and engineering courses.
A masked gunman entered Room 166, shouted something witnesses could not clearly understand, and opened fire. Two students, Ella Cook of Alabama and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov of Virginia, were killed. Nine others were wounded.
Six victims remained hospitalized in stable condition as of Thursday afternoon.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told reporters the investigation remains active and that a motive has not yet been determined.
Surveillance Footage and Manhunt
In the days following the shooting, police launched an intensive search for the suspect. Detectives canvassed nearby neighborhoods, reviewed hours of surveillance footage, and initially questioned a person of interest at a hotel outside the city. That individual was later ruled out.
Investigators eventually released images of a masked, stocky figure believed to be connected to the shooting. The individual appeared to be about 5 feet 8 inches tall and walked with an unusual gait.
Body language expert Susan Constantine pointed to a distinctive detail in the footage, noting how the individual’s right leg bowed inward while the toe pointed outward while walking.
Authorities later shared images of a second individual who they said might have information related to the suspect and asked the public for help identifying both figures.
Community Left Reeling
The shooting shattered the sense of safety on campus and across the surrounding Providence community. Students were sent home early as fear and uncertainty lingered while investigators worked to identify the shooter.
For days, residents waited anxiously for answers. Many struggled to understand how a former student with no current university ties could return and unleash violence during one of the most stressful weeks of the academic year.
Now, with the suspect identified and found dead, officials say the focus turns to understanding what led to the attacks and ensuring support for victims and their families.
The investigation continues across multiple jurisdictions.
