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Man suspected of Brown University shooting, MIT professor slaying found dead in N.H. storage facility, authorities say
A 48-year-old man was behind both the Brown University shooting that killed two and injured nine and the killing of an MIT professor in Brookline, officials said Thursday night. He took his own life in Salem, N.H., police said.
The man suspected of killing two Brown University students and injuring nine others Saturday, then fatally shooting an MIT professor in Brookline on Monday, was found dead in a storage facility in New Hampshire, authorities said Thursday night.
“Tonight, our Providence neighbors can finally breathe a little easier,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said at a press conference in Providence Thursday night.
Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Salem, N.H., Col. Oscar Perez of the Providence Police Department said at the press conference. The Portuguese national was a former Brown University student and his last known address was in Miami, Perez said.
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“Even though the suspect was found dead tonight, our work is not done,” said Ted Docks, Special Agent in Charge for the FBI’s Boston office.
Perez said a video gave authorities a description of a vehicle, which was corroborated through a tip. Flock license plate reader cameras traced the car to a rental facility in Massachusetts, where police obtained a copy of the agreement which provided his real name, Perez said.
“It was all about groundwork, public assistance, interviews of individuals in good old fashioned policing,” said Perez.
Police searched the storage facility with a warrant shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday night. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said Neves Valente was found there, dead, alongside a satchel and two firearms.
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Officials said they are still working to determine a motive for the shootings but indicated that Neves Valente likely acted alone.
Neves Valente obtained permanent lawful resident status in 2017, officials said, after using a student visa and later applying for a green card.
Six-day manhunt led law enforcement to N.H. storage facility
State and federal law enforcement surrounded the Extra Space Storage facility on Hampshire Street in Salem, New Hampshire Thursday evening.
The multi-state manhunt came after a gunman entered a Brown University study session in the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building and fired 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun Saturday. Two students — Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov — were killed, and nine others were injured. Three injured students have since been released from the hospital.
For six days, Providence police and other law enforcement had requested the public’s help in identifying a suspect as the alleged shooter continued to evade capture. A person detained within hours of the shooting was released from custody on Sunday as the investigation took a new direction, police said.
The breakthrough in the case appeared to come Thursday after authorities reportedly spoke to a person “in proximity” to the person of interest, who told police he confronted the suspected gunman.
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“He blew this case right open,” Neronha said.
Shooter was previously a student at Brown, university president says
Neves Valente was enrolled in a physics PhD program at Brown from the fall of 2000 until taking a leave of absence in April of 2001, Brown University President Christina Paxson said. He formally withdrew from the university in 2003, she told reporters Thursday night.
“I think it’s safe to assume that this man, when he was a student, spent a great deal of time in (the Barus & Holley building) for classes and other activities as a PhD student in physics,” Paxson said. “He has no current active affiliation with the university or a campus presence.”
Suspect was also behind slaying of MIT professor in Brookline, officials in Mass. say
Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley confirmed at a separate press conference in Boston Thursday night that Neves Valente shot and killed 47-year-old MIT Professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro in his Brookline home on Monday. They attended the same academic program in Portugal between 1995 and 2000, she said.
“My understanding is that they did know each other,” Foley said.
After the Brown University shooting, Neves Valente rented the car in Boston, murdered Loureiro, changed his license plate, and drove to the storage unit in New Hampshire, Foley said.
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His rental car was seen around Brown’s campus intermittently between Dec. 1 and Dec. 12, Foley said.
Declining to comment on whether Neves Valente used the same gun for both shootings, Foley said a ballistics investigation is still ongoing.
“He was sophisticated in hiding his tracks,” Foley said, pointing to Neves Valente’s use of a difficult-to-track phone and not using credit cards tied to his name.
Affidavit prepared by federal prosecutors includes details about investigation
When shown a photo of Neves Valente, a victim who “got a good look at the suspect… quickly froze, physically pushed back, and became emotional… tearing up and shaking,” an affidavit released by federal prosecutors said.
A man identified only as John told authorities that he verbally confronted Neves Valente after seeing him approach a gray Nissan with a Florida registration plate. After appearing to unlock his vehicle, Neves Valente suddenly walked in the opposite direction, an affidavit said.
“John remained on that block and observed the Suspect looping back to the area, then switching directions every time they saw each other,” the affidavit said. “John described this pattern as ‘a game of cat and mouse.’”
Neves Valente ran away from John, who confronted him, the affidavit said.
“Your car is back there, why are you circling the block?” John told police he said. Neves Valente allegedly responded “I don’t know you from nobody,” and “Why are you harassing me?”
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