Authorities have confirmed that the gunman responsible for last weekend’s deadly shooting at Brown University has been identified as 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente, who had attended the university more than two decades ago. Officials also announced on Thursday that the suspect is now dead and that investigators believe he was responsible for a second killing, the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor just two days after the attack at Brown.
According to law enforcement officials, Valente, who had previously been a PhD student in physics, was familiar with the building on Brown University’s campus where the shooting took place. Despite confirming his identity and background, investigators said they are still unable to determine his motive, leaving unanswered questions about why he carried out the attack and why he targeted that specific location.
US Attorney Leah Foley, speaking in Boston, confirmed that Valente was deceased. She said investigators have concluded that he acted alone. Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told reporters at a Thursday night press conference that Valente died by suicide and that there is no indication of any accomplices.
Law enforcement officials explained that the investigation made significant progress after a crucial tip was received from an individual who confronted Valente inside a bathroom on Brown’s campus shortly after the shooting. That encounter helped police identify a rental car linked to Valente. The vehicle, rented from an agency in Massachusetts, led investigators to store surveillance footage showing Valente wearing clothing that matched what the shooter was seen wearing in videos from the Brown University attack. His name was also found on the rental agreement, further strengthening the case against him.
Ted Docks, the FBI’s special agent in charge of the Boston field office, told reporters that Valente’s body was discovered inside a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. A large number of law enforcement officers converged on the site on Thursday night. Salem is located roughly 20 miles north of downtown Boston. Authorities said Valente had personally rented the storage unit where his body was found.
Attorney General Neronha said investigators still do not know what drove Valente to commit the shootings or why he chose the particular classroom and students at Brown University as his targets. “We don’t have an understanding of why now, or why Brown, or why those students, or that classroom,” he said, adding that these aspects of the case remain unclear.
Foley also confirmed that investigators are confident that Valente murdered MIT professor Nuno Loureiro on Monday. She said prosecutors have substantial evidence linking Valente to that killing. One official noted that Valente and Loureiro may have attended the same university in Lisbon, Portugal, though it remains unclear whether they knew each other personally.
Authorities said that if investigators are eventually able to determine Valente’s motive, that information will be shared with the public.
The shooting at Brown University resulted in the deaths of two students and left at least eight others injured. Initially, officials said they saw no connection between the campus attack and the killing of Professor Loureiro. However, further investigation has led them to believe that the two incidents are likely connected.
Loureiro was found shot to death in his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, about 50 miles north of Brown University. He was a respected faculty member affiliated with MIT’s departments of nuclear science and engineering and physics, as well as the Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
Investigators said Valente fled the Brown University campus on foot after the shooting, disappearing into nearby streets. Because there were few surveillance cameras in the classroom building and the surrounding area, police relied heavily on footage from residential security systems in the neighborhood. Authorities released images and video of a masked man believed to be the shooter, based on survivor accounts, and repeatedly appealed to the public for help in identifying him.
The released footage showed the suspect walking through nearby neighborhoods both before and immediately after the shooting, including moments when police vehicles arrived at the scene with their emergency lights flashing. Police also circulated images of another unidentified man seen in the area, saying they wanted to speak with him as a potential witness who might have relevant information.
At one point, authorities announced that a person had been taken into custody a day after the shooting. That individual was later released after investigators determined he was not involved in the attack.
