Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, has been named by police as the man responsible for the attack in which two students were killed and nine others injured at the Ivy League university
The suspect behind the fatal shooting at Brown University has been identified after his body was found with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, has been named by police as the person responsible for the horrific attack.
Two students died and nine others were injured at the prestigious Ivy League university in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday (December 13). Neves Valente was a former PhD student in physics at Brown University around 25 years ago, according to police.
His body was discovered in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire. “He may have been dead for a bit of time,” a high-ranking official stated.
Neves Valente was also sought in relation to the murder of Nuno Loureiro, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which occurred two days later. After receiving a tip-off from the public, which referenced an eyewitness account posted on Reddit, police were able to trace a rental car found at both crime scenes.
In the Reddit post, an eyewitness claimed to have seen the suspect unlocking a grey Nissan sedan with Florida number plates parked behind the Rhode Island Historical Society, just a stone’s throw away from the Brown University building, known as Barus and Holley, where the shooting took place, reports the Mirror.
The witness, referred to as John in the affidavit, reported first spotting the suspect in a bathroom inside the Barus and Holley building at approximately 1.45pm. He mentioned making eye contact with the suspect.
John recounted how the suspect exited the building, sparking “a game of cat and mouse” as he pursued the individual around the area, including to the parking spot of the grey Nissan. The suspect eventually bolted, with John in pursuit.
When he caught up with the man, he questioned him about his suspicious behaviour, asking why he was “circling the block”. The suspect didn’t respond, instead accusing John of “harassing” him.
The vehicle spotted in the footage, thanks to John’s Reddit post, led detectives to a car hire firm in Boston. Here, officers obtained video footage revealing the suspect’s face and a rental agreement identifying the suspect as Neves Valente.
John later recognised the vehicle in CCTV images. Police also linked the clothes Neves Valente was seen wearing at the car hire place on 1 December to those donned by the suspect on the day of the shooting on 13 December.
Neves Valente had no connections to any victims at Brown, but was acquainted with the professor at MIT, having previously studied physics together in Portugal, their birthplace. The suspect gained permanent US residency in 2017.
Rhode Island’s attorney general Peter Neronha admitted there are still “a lot of unknowns” regarding the motive, adding: “We don’t know why now, why Brown, why these students and why this classroom.”