Brown University Shooting Suspect Identified as MIT Case Reexamined
Neves Valente, 48, is suspected in the shootings at Brown University that killed two students and wounded nine others, and the killing of an MIT professor. He was found dead Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
Neves Valente had studied at Brown on a student visa beginning in 2000, according to an affidavit from a Providence police detective. In 2017, he was issued a diversity immigrant visa and months later obtained legal permanent residence status, according to the affidavit. It was not immediately clear where he was between taking a leave of absence from the school in 2001 and getting the visa in 2017.
🚨 BREAKING:
A LARGE FBI and police presence has just entered a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, where the Brown University shooting suspect is believed to have a unit.
Providence, Rhode Island — Authorities have identified a suspect in last weekend’s deadly shooting at Brown University and are now reexamining whether the attack could be connected to the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor two days later, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly, did not disclose details about the suspect’s identity or explain what evidence prompted investigators to reconsider a potential link between the two incidents.
Deadly Campus Attack
Authorities have not confirmed that the individual seen in the video is the suspect.
Law enforcement officials stated that the footage is still under review, and no official identification has been made at this time. Investigators emphasized that the person shown should not be assumed to be involved until authorities release verified information.
Police have been searching for the suspect since December 13, when a gunman opened fire inside a classroom building at Brown University in Providence, killing two students and injuring at least eight others, authorities said.
The shooting sent shockwaves through the campus community and prompted an extensive manhunt
across the city as law enforcement agencies worked to identify and locate the suspect.
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MIT Professor Killed Days Later
Two days after the Brown University attack, Nuno Loureiro, a 47-year-old MIT professor, was found fatally shot at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, roughly 49 miles north of Brown’s campus.
Loureiro was a faculty member in MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and Department of Physics, and was also affiliated with the university’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
Earlier this week, an FBI official said investigators did not believe the two cases were connected. However, the source said authorities are now taking a second look at whether there may be a link between the shootings as new information has emerged.
Search Intensifies for Suspect
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Providence police said the suspect fled the Brown University campus on foot and disappeared into nearby streets. Investigators have relied heavily on footage from home security cameras, as there are limited surveillance cameras in and around the classroom building where the shooting occurred.
Police have released images and video of a masked man believed to be the shooter, based on survivor accounts. The footage shows the man walking through a nearby neighborhood both before and after the shooting, including moments when police vehicles arrived with flashing lights.
“He could be anywhere,” Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said Wednesday, according to Reuters, adding that investigators initially did not know the suspect’s identity or motive.
Public Urged to Help
Authorities have repeatedly asked the public to assist in identifying the suspect, sharing images and video in hopes of generating new leads. Police have also released images of another unidentified man seen near the area, saying they wish to speak with him as a possible witness who may have information relevant to the investigation.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said residents and students are becoming increasingly anxious as the search continues.
“People are restless and eager for an arrest,” Smiley said, as law enforcement expands its efforts to locate the suspect.
Person Briefly Detained, Then Released
Police briefly took one individual into custody a day after the Brown University shooting but later released him after determining he was not involved, according to Reuters.
The investigation remains ongoing, and authorities have not announced any arrests related to either case.
By The Associated Press
President Donald Trump suspended the green card lottery program on Thursday that allowed the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to come to the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on the social platform X that, at Trump’s direction, she was ordering the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the program.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” she said of the suspect, Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente.
