Officials believe Brown University shooting suspect also killed MIT professor

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: Authorities believe that Claudio Neves Valente was responsible for both the Saturday, December 13 shooting at Brown University and the Monday, December 15 killing of Professor Nuno Loureiro in Brookline, Massachusetts. 

Investigators say both men were Portuguese nationals who attended the same academic program in Portugal between 1995 and 2000, a connection now central to the investigation.

Investigators probe possible links between the two shootings

Following the deadly shooting at Brown University and the slaying of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, investigators had been probing potential ties between the two incidents.

Ted Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston office, said at a briefing on Tuesday, that there “seems to be no connection” between the two shootings, but now the possible connection marks a shift in the investigation as it took place just two days apart at or near an elite New England university less than 50 miles from each other. 

However, now the suspect in the Brown University shooting case has been found dead after he reportedly took his own life before the police in New Hampshire could arrest him.

Brown gunman was responsible for MIT professor's killing, say authorities

Federal officials confirmed his death. It is believed that Valente's body was discovered in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, where a large contingent of law enforcement officers descended on Thursday night in an action related to the Brown University investigation.

It is also believed that the suspect attended the Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal, the same university attended by the slain MIT professor.

“It is believed that in Lisbon that those two individuals attended the same university in Portugal,” said Docks. 

Loureiro attended Instituto Superior Tecnico in Lisbon and was a researcher at the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion at IST Lisbon before he joined MIT, his bio at MIT says.

The suspect in the Brown shooting is believed to have killed an MIT professor two days after the campus shooting, the US attorney in Boston said.

“On December 15, he murdered Nuno Loureiro at Loureiro’s home in Brookline, Massachusetts,” Leah B Foley, US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said at a news conference on Thursday night.

Federal officials said video footage helped law enforcement confirm the Brown gunman was also responsible for Loureiro's killing.

"My understanding is that they did know each other," Foley said, but stopped short of saying the Brookline killing was targeted.

Surveillance footage from the apartment complex where an MIT professor was fatally shot helped investigators link that killing to the earlier shooting at Brown University, according to US Attorney Foley.

Authorities also identified the rental vehicle Valente allegedly used to travel from Boston to Brown University and back.

Foley said security video placed Valente within a half-mile of the professor’s residence in Brookline, Massachusetts, showing him entering an apartment building near the victim’s home. About an hour later, additional footage allegedly shows him entering a storage facility wearing the same clothing seen shortly after the murder, she said.

The shooting death of Loureiro remains under investigation.

Timeline of the shootings and ongoing investigation

On Saturday, the suspect opened fire at a final exam review session at the university in  Providence, Rhode Island, killing two students and wounding nine more.

Later on Monday, MIT nuclear science professor Lourerio was shot dead in his townhouse in Massachusetts. 

Several grainy surveillance images showing a person of interest in the case, including video of the unidentified man wearing a dark jacket walking neighborhood streets both before and after the shooting, were released by the Providence police.

Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez admitted to reporters on Wednesday that the at-large gunman “could be anywhere,” and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said they had “zero” information on a possible motive in the case.

Background of the victims and ongoing investigations

As the investigation to catch the killer had dragged on for nearly a week, local cops were facing mounting criticisms.

The murdered students were identified as Ella Cook, 19, a sophomore from Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, an Uzbek American freshman.

Loureiro was found inside his home with multiple gunshot wounds by police responding to reports of a shooting. Although he was rushed to the hospital, he was pronounced dead on Tuesday morning. 

Last year, Loureiro was to lead the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, working on advanced clean energy technology and other research.

In January, former President Joe Biden awarded Loureiro and 400 other scientists with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.