Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a former Brown University student and Portuguese national, has been found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire. Authorities believe he is responsible for a mass shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island and the killing of an MIT professor in Massachusetts.

Brown University Mass Shooting

On Saturday, Neves Valente allegedly killed two people and injured nine others at Brown University. Providence Police Chief Colonel Oscar Perez confirmed that investigators believe he acted alone.

Brown University President Christina Paxson noted that Neves Valente was enrolled at Brown from fall 2000 to spring 2001 and had no current affiliation with the university.

MIT Professor Murder

Authorities linked Neves Valente to the killing of 47-year-old MIT professor Nuno FG Loureiro, who was fatally shot at his home near Boston two days after the Brown shooting. Both men had attended the same academic program in Portugal between 1995 and 2000, according to US Attorney Leah B. Foley.

Investigators tracked Neves Valente’s rental car, which he allegedly used to travel between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Footage showed him entering the apartment building near Loureiro’s home and later the storage facility where he was found dead.

Investigation and Unknown Motives

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha confirmed that a second individual came forward, providing crucial information that helped investigators piece together Neves Valente’s movements. Foley explained that Neves Valente attempted to conceal his identity by attaching a Maine license plate over his rental car’s plates.

“We don’t know why now, why Brown, why these students and why this classroom,” Neronha said, emphasizing that the motive remains unclear.

The FBI had previously stated there were no known links between the two attacks until the investigation revealed the connection.

Context

The Brown University shooting marks another tragic incident in the ongoing conversation about gun violence in the United States. Survivors and advocates continue to call for stronger safety measures to prevent similar tragedies in academic institutions and communities nationwide.