Brown University Shooting Suspect Found Dead In Storage/ Newslooks/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ Morning Edition/ Claudio Neves Valente, linked to the Brown University mass shooting and the murder of an MIT professor, was found dead in a New Hampshire storage unit. Authorities say he died by suicide and acted alone. Investigators are still working to determine his motive in both attacks.
Brown University Shooting Suspect + Quick Looks
- Claudio Neves Valente, 48, was the sole suspect.
- He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
- He was linked to shootings in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
- Victims included two Brown students and an MIT professor.
- Investigators traced him through a tip on Reddit.
- Surveillance tech and license plate tracking aided the search.
- Motive remains unknown, officials say.
- The attack exposed security camera gaps at Brown University.
Brown University Shooting Suspect Found Dead In Storage
Deep Look
A multi-state manhunt for the individual responsible for two violent attacks ended Thursday night when police found Claudio Neves Valente dead in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. Authorities say the 48-year-old former Brown University student and Portuguese national died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Valente had been identified as the suspect in both a deadly mass shooting at Brown University and the murder of a respected MIT professor.
According to Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez, Valente fatally shot two students and wounded nine others during a lecture hall shooting at Brown University the previous Saturday. Two days later, MIT physics professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro was found murdered in his suburban Boston home, and authorities quickly connected Valente to the second crime.
Although police are still working to determine Valente’s motives, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha acknowledged the many unanswered questions: “We don’t know why now, why Brown, why these students and why this classroom,” he said.
Valente, who studied physics at Brown during the 2000–2001 academic year, had no current ties to the university, said Brown President Christina Paxson. The suspected shooter and Loureiro previously crossed academic paths while attending Portugal’s Instituto Superior Técnico in the late 1990s. Loureiro graduated from the university in 2000, the same year Valente reportedly lost his position there.
After arriving in the U.S. on a student visa, Valente later secured permanent residency in 2017. His movements between 2001 and 2017 are largely unaccounted for, although his last known address was in Miami, Florida.
The situation escalated after President Donald Trump, upon learning of Valente’s immigration history, announced the suspension of the diversity visa lottery program, which had allowed Valente to remain in the U.S.
The search for Valente intensified after police received a crucial tip from an individual who had multiple encounters with him on the Brown campus. The tipster, known only as “John” in police documents, posted his suspicions on Reddit after seeing police-released footage of a person of interest. Encouraged by other Reddit users, John contacted the FBI and provided detailed information that helped identify the suspect.
John reported seeing Valente wearing unusual clothing for the weather and behaving strangely near the engineering building where the shooting later occurred. He also noticed Valente attempting to avoid him near a Nissan sedan. This vehicle, with Florida license plates, led investigators to access the city’s extensive surveillance camera network.
Valente later affixed a fake Maine license plate over his rental car’s original tag in an apparent attempt to evade detection. Despite this effort, investigators tracked him entering an apartment complex near Loureiro’s home before eventually finding footage of him arriving at the storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, where he was later discovered deceased. Authorities said he was carrying a satchel and two firearms.
Among the victims was 47-year-old MIT physicist Nuno Loureiro, who had led the Plasma Science and Fusion Center since 2024. A prominent figure in plasma physics, Loureiro was known for his work on solar flares and other cosmic phenomena. Originally from Viseu, Portugal, he joined MIT in 2016 and had built an international reputation in his field.
The students killed during the Brown University shooting were 19-year-old Ella Cook and 18-year-old Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov. Cook, a sophomore from Alabama, was vice president of the Brown College Republicans and deeply involved in her church. Umurzokov, originally from Uzbekistan, came to the United States as a child and dreamed of becoming a doctor.
As of Thursday, three of the nine wounded students had been discharged from the hospital, while the remaining six were reported to be in stable condition.
The shooting has raised questions about campus safety. Brown University maintains over 1,200 cameras, but the attack occurred in an older part of the engineering building with limited surveillance. Investigators believe the shooter may have used a door facing a residential street, bypassing most security systems.
Authorities maintain that Valente acted alone in both incidents, though the investigation is ongoing. As more information is gathered, officials hope to piece together the rationale behind these tragic events that stunned both the academic community and the nation.
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