Authorities suspect the same individual is behind the tragic deaths of two students at Brown University and the murder of an MIT professor two days afterward, with a total of nine others injured during the initial attack.
WASHINGTON — Law enforcement officials have linked the shooting incident at Brown University, which resulted in two student fatalities, with the subsequent murder of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor. Both crimes are attributed to a single suspect connected to both academic establishments.
The individual in question is Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old former graduate student from Portugal who once attended Brown University. Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez reported that Neves Valente was discovered dead on Thursday night, having died by suicide. Investigators are confident that he acted independently.
Valente is believed to have opened fire in a lecture hall at Brown University last Saturday, killing two students and injuring nine others. Just two days later, he allegedly ended the life of MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro at the professor’s residence in a Boston suburb, approximately 50 miles from Providence.
Brown University President Christina Paxson confirmed Neves Valente’s past enrollment at the university, stating that he studied physics as a graduate student from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001.
“He is not currently affiliated with the university,” Paxson clarified.
How are the Brown University and MIT shootings connected?
Federal investigators say Neves Valente and Loureiro shared an academic connection dating back to Portugal. U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah B. Foley said the two attended the same academic program at a university of Portugal between 1995 and 2000.
Loureiro graduated in 2000 from the physics program at Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal’s premier engineering school, according to his MIT faculty biography. That same year, Neves Valente was dismissed from a position at the Lisbon-based university, according to archived termination records issued by the school’s president in February 2000.
Authorities have not said whether that shared academic history played a role in the attacks. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said investigators are still working to understand a motive.
There are still “a lot of unknowns” in regard to motive, Neronha said. “We don’t know why now, why Brown, why these students and why this classroom,” he said.
Loureiro joined MIT in 2016 and was named last year to lead the university’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, one of its largest research laboratories. A physicist and fusion scientist from Viseu, Portugal, he was known for his work explaining the physics behind astronomical phenomena such as solar flares and advancing clean energy technology research.
Investigations into both shootings remain ongoing as authorities work to piece together the events and circumstances connecting the two attacks.
Anonymous tipster on Reddit helped crack case
Law enforcement officials say an anonymous tipster known only as “John” helped crack the case. The tipster’s information led police to identify the suspect.
According to police, John had several encounters with the suspect before Saturday’s attack. As police posted images of a person of interest John began posting on the social media forum Reddit that he recognized the person and theorized that police should look into “possibly a rental” grey Nissan. Reddit users urged him to tell the FBI, and John said he did. The police affidavit said they learned about the tip on Dec. 16, three days after the shooting and a day after the tip line was created.
Up until that point, the police affidavit says officials had not connected a vehicle to the possible shooter.
As of Thursday, it’s unknown whether John will receive the $50,000 reward the FBI had offered for information about the Brown shooting.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
