Authorities have identified the suspect connected to both the Brown University mass shooting in Rhode Island and the fatal shooting of MIT professor Nuno F. G. Loureiro in Massachusetts as Cláudio Manuel Neves-Valente, 48, according to law enforcement sources.
Investigators say Neves-Valente was found deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound inside an Extra Space Storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, bringing the multistate manhunt to an end.
Brown University Shooting Suspect Identified as 48-year-old Cláudio Manuel Neves-Valente
Law enforcement officials confirmed that the suspect had a storage unit registered in his name at the same facility where an abandoned vehicle linked to the investigation was previously located.
Prior to the discovery of his body, authorities had not entered the unit. Surveillance footage reportedly showed Neves-Valente entering the storage complex, though it was initially unclear whether he exited before being found deceased.
Sources further stated that Neves-Valente was not a U.S. citizen, but a lawful permanent resident originally from Portugal.
Investigators noted that the MIT professor who was killed, Dr. Loureiro, was also from Portugal, though officials have not publicly stated whether that factored into the motive. Authorities have cautioned that the investigation into motive remains ongoing.
Advertisement
The case involved extensive coordination among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, particularly in the area near the Salem, New Hampshire–Methuen, Massachusetts border.
During the active search, Methuen police issued public alerts urging residents to report anyone who appeared out of place or was behaving suspiciously, while emphasizing that there was no known threat to the general public.
Investigators determined that the suspect used a vehicle connected to both crimes. According to officials briefed on the investigation, the vehicle was the same make and model in each case but was observed with different license plates.
A license plate provided by a witness in the Brown University shooting led authorities to trace the vehicle’s ownership and usage history, ultimately linking it to the homicide of Dr. Loureiro in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Law enforcement later located the vehicle in Salem after a license plate reader flagged one of the associated plates, prompting a significant police response in the area. Officials said the suspect appeared to have employed deliberate countermeasures to evade detection, including swapping license plates across jurisdictions and taking steps to limit identification through surveillance cameras and facial recognition technology.
Advertisement
The Brown University shooting occurred shortly after 4 p.m. on Saturday, when a masked gunman dressed in black entered a lecture hall inside the Barus and Holley Science Building, shouted unintelligibly, and opened fire on students gathered for a final exam review session.
Two students were killed—MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, 18, of Virginia, and Ella Cook, 19, a sophomore from Alabama. Nine others were injured, six of whom remained hospitalized in stable condition as of the last update.
The attack prompted a massive law enforcement response involving approximately 400 officers, who conducted room-to-room searches across campus and surrounding neighborhoods.
Despite the extensive operation, the shooter initially escaped. A 24-year-old man was briefly detained as a person of interest but was later released after forensic testing cleared him.
Separately, authorities in Brookline, Massachusetts, responded Monday night to the home of Dr. Nuno F. G. Loureiro, an MIT professor, who had been shot and later died from his injuries early Tuesday morning.
Advertisement
While officials initially stated there appeared to be no connection between the two cases, investigators later determined that both incidents were linked through the same suspect and vehicle.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with state and local agencies, continues to review evidence and reconstruct the suspect’s movements leading up to both attacks.
Officials have indicated that additional details may be released once the investigation is formally concluded
The post Cláudio Manuel Neves-Valente Identified as Suspect in Brown University, MIT Shootings; Found Dead in New Hampshire appeared first on Tripplenews.
