Suspect in Brown University and MIT Shootings Found Dead. Here’s What We Know
The suspect in the killing of two students at Brown University and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor has been found dead.
A man suspected in the killing of two students at Brown University and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) physics professor has been found dead.
Authorities said they believed the two incidents were connected at a press conference on Thursday and identified the suspect as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a Portuguese national. Neves Valente was found dead from self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a New Hampshire storage facility on Thursday, according to Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez.
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Federal, state, and local officials were engaged in a five-day manhunt after a shooter killed two students and wounded nine others during a final exam study session at Brown University on Saturday. A previous “person of interest” was detained on Sunday, Dec. 14, but was later released.
Here’s what to know about the case.
Tracing the timeline
U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley recounted the suspect’s last steps during a news conference, where she revealed that Neves Valente, whose last known home address was in Florida, had rented a hotel room in Boston between Nov. 26 and Nov. 30.
On Dec. 1, the suspect rented a gray Nissan Sentra with Florida plates from a Boston rental agency and used it to drive down to the Brown University area in Rhode Island. His car was “observed intermittently” from Dec. 1 until Dec. 12th. On Saturday, Dec. 13, Valente allegedly opened fire at Brown University during a study session, killing two students, Ella Cook and Muhammad Aziz Umurzakov. He injured nine others.
Following the shooting, Neves Valente traveled some 80 miles north to the home of MIT physics professor Nuno Loureiro in Brookline, Massachusetts, according to police. Around 9 p.m. local time on Dec. 15, Loureiro’s neighbors reported hearing loud bangs. Loureiro was found with gunshot wounds and taken to a nearby hospital, where he passed away the following day, according to the Norfolk County district attorney’s office.
Immediately after the killing, Neves Valente traveled another 40 miles to a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, where he died by suicide, Chief Perez told reporters. Officials found his body, with the same clothes he had been wearing when he fatally shot Loureiro, on Thursday. Two firearms and a satchel were also recovered near his remains.
"We are 100% confident that this is our target, and that this case is closed from a perspective of pursuing people involved," Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said on Thursday.
Still, Neronha added that the motive for the shooting is unclear. “I don't think we have any idea why now, or why — why Brown? Why these students? Why this classroom? That is really unknown to us. It may become clear, I hope that it does, but it hasn't as of right now," Neronha added.