Brown University janitor warned campus security of suspect ‘casing hallways’ weeks before shooting

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: The shooting at Brown University has raised serious questions about campus security after reports emerged that a janitor flagged suspicious activity weeks before the incident.

The worker reportedly alerted campus security multiple times about an individual who appeared to be surveying the area.

Janitor warned Brown University security weeks before shooting

Brown University janitor Derek Lisi described his suspicions by saying, “Something’s off with this guy, so I gotta say something.”

Lisi, who has worked at the university for 15 years, told The Boston Globe that he “knew something was off with” the mass shooter before the individual opened fire in a lecture hall on December 13.

In the days leading up to the incident, Lisi said he twice alerted the same security guard about a suspicious person lingering around the same building. However, it remains unclear whether any action was taken by the guard or campus officials.

“He’d been casing that place for weeks,’’ looking into classrooms and “circling the hallways,’’ Lisi told the outlet.

“I thought it was someone trying to steal something. Every time he saw me, I think he thought I was security, because he would always walk away.’’

Brown University security chief under fire after shooting

This comes in the wake of revelations that Brown University Security Chief Rodney Chatman has faced criticism over his leadership and alleged security failures that may have contributed to the bloodshed.

According to Paul Mauro, a veteran of the New York Police Department, vulnerabilities allowed under Chatman’s watch, including minimal camera coverage, a lack of guards around Brown’s largest classroom, and secured doors being left open, were “ground ball issues” that could have stopped the shooter.

Brown shooting suspect found dead, MIT murder link probed

On Thursday, December 18, the suspected shooter, Claudio Neves-Valente, was found dead inside a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, six days after he opened fire, killing two students and injuring nine others.

According to the medical examiner, Neves-Valente may have taken his own life the day after Nuno Loureiro, an MIT professor, was killed in his Massachusetts home, an incident authorities believe may be connected to the university shooting.

Neves-Valente was a student at Brown University in the early 2000s and was a Portuguese national.

Investigators also believe he attended Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal, the same university attended by Loureiro.

Authorities further believe Neves-Valente was responsible for the killing of the MIT professor.