Key Highlights
- The man believed to be responsible for a mass shooting at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor in Brookline was found dead in New Hampshire on Thursday.
- 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente is also thought to have been involved in the fatal shooting of Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a nuclear science professor at MIT.
- U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, Leah Foley, stated that investigators identified his vehicle and linked it to hotels he stayed at during the incident.
- Nuno F.G. Loureiro was named as head of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center in 2016, focusing on clean energy technology research.
The Tragic Convergence: Brown University Shooting and Brookline Professor Killing
On Thursday, the shocking news broke that Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a man believed to be responsible for the mass shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island and the subsequent killing of an MIT professor in Brookline, Massachusetts, was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in New Hampshire. This tragic event has sent shockwaves through both academic communities and law enforcement.
Shooting at Brown University
The mass shooting incident that unfolded on Saturday in Providence, Rhode Island, left a trail of devastation. Ella Cook and Mukhammed Aziz Umurzokov were among the victims who lost their lives, while nine others sustained injuries. Authorities have been searching for Neves Valente since the attack, which took place at Brown University.
Fatal Shooting in Brookline
Two days later, on Monday, a 47-year-old MIT professor named Nuno F.G. Loureiro was fatally shot at his home in Brookline. Loureiro, who joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016 and became head of its Plasma Science and Fusion Center, was highly respected within the scientific community for his work on clean energy technologies.
Investigative Details
According to U.S. Attorney Leah Foley, investigators identified Neves Valente’s vehicle that he had rented in Boston and driven to Rhode Island. Security footage captured him near Professor Loureiro’s residence in Brookline. Additionally, financial investigations linked Neves Valente to the car and hotels he stayed at during his travels.
“There was security footage that captured him within a half-mile of the professor’s residence in Brookline,” Foley said. “And there is video footage of him entering an apartment building in the location of the professor’s apartment, and then later that evening, he is seen about an hour later entering the storage unit wearing the same clothes that he had been seen wearing right after the murder.”
Background on Neves Valente
Brown University President Christina Paxson revealed that Claudio Manuel Neves Valente was enrolled in physics classes between 2000 and 2001, attending lectures in the Barus & Holley building where the shooting took place. FBI Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks stated that Neves Valente attended the same Portuguese university in Lisbon as Loureiro.
The investigation remains ongoing, with authorities working to piece together a full understanding of the events leading up to these tragic deaths. The case has raised questions about possible connections between the two shootings and continues to be closely monitored by law enforcement agencies across New England.