Brown University shooting suspect Claudio Neves Valente, 48, was a lawful US permanent resident

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: Claudio Neves Valente, the individual identified as the suspect in the Brown University shooting, was a Portuguese national and was a lawful permanent resident of the United States, authorities confirmed on Thursday, December 18. He reportedly entered the country in 2000 on a student F-1 visa and was admitted as a lawful permanent resident in 2017.

Valente was found dead inside a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.

Authorities reveal details of suspect shooter

During an official announcement, Providence Police Chief Col Oscar   Perez Jr revealed that Claudio Neves Valente was a 48-year-old Portuguese national and had once been a student at Brown University. He was the primary suspect in Saturday's shooting that killed two students and injured nine others, as well as the murder of an MIT professor.

The law enforcement officials located Valente dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, on Thursday.

Following the shootout, the person of interest, who was initially detained by police, was released after evidence pointed in another direction, which led the manhunt to focus on Valente.

According to law enforcement sources, the suspect had a storage unit registered in his name at the Extra Space Storage facility in Salem, where his abandoned car was found.

Surveillance video reportedly showed that the suspect entered the storage complex, prompting investigators to secure a federal warrant to search the unit.

Officials revealed that the suspect’s movements after entering the facility could not be confirmed through video evidence, and this raised concerns that he may have remained inside.

Claudio Neves Valente was a student of Brown University in the early 2000s

The suspect was enrolled in Brown University's Master of Science PhD program in physics in the early 2000s, the university’s president Christina Hull Paxson revealed.

He was enrolled from September 2000 to April 2001, and took a leave of absence before formally withdrawing in July 2003, the university president added. 

Paxson added that Valente was only enrolled in physics classes during his time at the university, and the majority of those classes would’ve been held in the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building.

However, she added that he did not have an active affiliation with the university. 

Providence Police Chief Col Perez Jr said during a news conference on Thursday that Valente acted alone in the attack, which left two students dead and nine injured.