In a shocking turn of events, law enforcement authorities have linked the suspect behind the tragic mass shooting at Brown University to another high-profile crime. The attack resulted in the deaths of two students and left nine others injured during a finals week review session, casting a shadow over the campus. The suspect is also believed to be responsible for the murder of a prominent nuclear scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the days that followed.
Identified as Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, the suspect was confirmed by Providence police. This 48-year-old Portuguese national, who once studied physics at Brown University from fall 2000 to spring 2001, had taken a leave of absence and officially withdrew from the institution by 2003, according to Brown University President Christina Paxson.
The investigation took a dramatic turn when Neves-Valente was discovered dead on Thursday evening. This announcement came during a press briefing, following an extensive law enforcement operation at a storage unit connected to him in Salem, New Hampshire. Officers clad in tactical gear had been stationed outside the unit for several hours before the discovery.
Further compounding the mystery, a split image released by the Providence Police Department depicted Neves-Valente wearing a jacket identical to one worn by a previously identified person of interest in the case. This added a chilling visual connection to the ongoing investigation.
Adding another layer to his complex history, records indicate that a man with Neves-Valente’s name was dismissed from a monitor position at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal in 2000. Authorities have reason to believe this individual is indeed the same person responsible for these heinous acts.
A man with the same name was also terminated from a monitor position at the Instituto Superior Tecnico in Portugal in 2000, school records show. Authorities said they believe he is the same person as the killer.
That’s also the same university attended by the renowned MIT nuclear physics professor Nuno Loureiro, who suffered fatal gunshot wounds Monday at his home in Massachusetts, about 50 miles away from Brown.
Images of Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente displayed on a projector screen at a news briefing in Providence, Rhode Island. The 48-year-old former student and Portuguese national has been identified as the gunman behind a mass shooting that killed two students and wounded nine Saturday. (Andrea Margolis/Fox News Digital)
Rhode Island authorities said that investigation was being handled by Massachusetts authorities, who would speak for themselves. Leah B. Foley, the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, later confirmed that Neves-Valente was suspected in Loureiro’s murder too.
“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.”
The Brown shooting happened around 4 p.m. Saturday at a finals week study session at the Barus and Holley Building on the eastern edge of campus. A motive remains unclear, and the investigation is ongoing, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told reporters.
A split image showing multiple still frames from the surveillance video taken near Brown University of a person of interest before and after a school shooting Saturday. (FBI Boston)
The building has long hosted physics and engineering classes, according to Paxson.
“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.”
Interior view of Barus and Holley Room 166 on the campus of Brown University in Providence, R.I. On Saturday, Dec. 13, around 4p.m., a masked man with a gun entered a review session in Barus & Holley Room 166 for ECON 0110: “Principles of Economics,” shouted something indiscernible and opened fire. (Kenna Lee/The Brown Daily Herald)
Detectives initially questioned a person of interest at a hotel outside town but ruled him out as a suspect, according to authorities.
Police spent days canvassing the neighborhood for surveillance video, which turned up images of a person of interest — a masked, stocky figure who stood around 5 feet, 8 inches tall and walked with an odd gait.
Susan Constantine, a body language expert, said one key marker is how the person of interest’s right leg bows inward while his toe points outward as he walks.
Then they shared images of a second person who they said may have information about the person they were seeking and asked for the public’s help identifying both of them.
Six of the surviving victims remained hospitalized as of Thursday afternoon in stable condition.
Members of the FBI Evidence Response Team search for evidence near the campus of Brown University, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)
The two killed were identified as Ella Cook of Alabama and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov of Virginia.
The surrounding community spent days waiting for answers, with residents on edge after the school sent students home early in the wake of the shooting.
