A man suspected in last weekend’s mass shooting at Brown University and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor has been found dead at a storage facility in New Hampshire, authorities said.
Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a former Brown student and Portuguese national, was discovered Thursday night in Salem, N.H., with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Providence police Chief Col. Oscar Perez.
Investigators believe Neves Valente fatally shot two students and wounded nine others in a Brown lecture hall last Saturday, then killed MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, at his home two days later in a Boston suburb. Police say he acted alone.
Brown University said Neves Valente studied physics there from fall 2000 to spring 2001 and had no current affiliation with the school. Authorities said he later obtained U.S. permanent resident status in 2017, though his whereabouts between 2001 and that time remain unclear. His last known residence was in Miami.
Police said a tip from a witness who recognized Neves Valente from security images helped lead investigators to a rental car and ultimately to the storage facility where he was found. Surveillance footage tracked his movements across Rhode Island, Massachusetts and into New Hampshire.
The victims at Brown were identified as sophomore Ella Cook, 19, and freshman Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18. Three of the wounded had been released from hospital, while six remained in stable condition. Loureiro was a physicist and fusion scientist who led MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
Authorities said the motive remains unknown and the investigation is ongoing.