Authorities announced on Dec. 18 that they had tracked down the person responsible for the fatal shooting at Brown University and the fatal shooting of MIT professor Nuno FG Loureiro two days later, and found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a warehouse in Salem, Massachusetts.
Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, a former Brown University physics doctoral student from Portugal who knew Loureiro, authorities said in two separate news conferences on the evening of Dec. 18.
Investigators said they identified Valente on the afternoon of Dec. 17 and linked him to both crime scenes through financial background information, including rental records for the car he rented and drove to Providence and back to Massachusetts.
The Brown shooting shocked the Ivy League school and the community surrounding it.
Authorities at a news conference in Boston said Valeant was “sophisticated in covering his tracks,” including covering his phone so it couldn’t be traced, changing the license plates on his rental cars and not using credit cards in his name.
An affidavit signed by a Rhode Island district judge said police broke the case after an informant recognized a rental car circling the area. The tipster said police should be looking for a gray Nissan Altima and license plate, but police have not previously disclosed that information. Police later traced photos of Neves Valente to a rental car location in Alamo, Boston.
Here’s what to know about the shooter:
Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, the suspected Brown University shooter on November 17, 2025, at the Alamo car rental facility in Boston.
When did Claudio Manuel Neves Valente enter the United States?
Neves Valente entered the country in 2000 on a student F-1 visa. He was admitted as a legal permanent resident in 2017.
Brown University officials said he was a doctoral student before taking a leave of absence in April 2001. He dropped out of school on July 31, 2003. His last known address was in Miami, according to police.
The tipster first posted his information to the social media site Reddit, posting: “I’m serious. Police need to investigate a gray Nissan with Florida license plates, possibly a rental,” according to the affidavit, whose last name is being withheld by authorities.
When will the identification results be announced?
The news comes after authorities urged the public to help expand the investigation and launch a days-long search for those suspected of carrying out the attack. Earlier this week, authorities released enhanced images and video footage of people investigators believe may be involved in the shooting that killed two people and injured nine others.
Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said investigators have evidence that the suspect was near the university hours before the shooting. Video from a nearby camera shared by authorities showed the man wearing dark clothing and a mask walking down a street a few blocks from campus on Dec. 13.
Perez said investigators believe the person was likely at the “filming” scene.
“We have a lot of clues here that point to the person who caused this tragedy to be the person in this video,” the police chief said.
Although officials said on December 16 that they were confident the man in the video was the suspect, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha noted that they had “zero evidence” of a motive for the attack. Perez said witnesses said the person may be in their 30s and it was unclear whether they were affiliated with the university.
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Perez said police have received more than 200 tips since the shooting. The police chief asked for the public’s help in identifying the suspected shooter and said investigators hope new footage will help people identify the man.
“Focus on body movement, the way the person moves their arms, body position, the way they carry the weight,” Perez said. “I think these are important movement patterns that help you identify the person, which is really important.”
The footage includes a piece of online video that includes surveillance video from nearby cameras and the vehicle’s dash cam.
In one video, the suspected gunman can be seen leaving the scene of the shooting as a police car arrives with emergency lights flashing. The final video shows the suspect walking down that street minutes after the attack.
Did the suspect target Brown University?
At around 4:05 pm local time on December 13, a shooting occurred in an engineering building at an Ivy League university. The door was unlocked and final exams were in progress. Authorities said the suspect opened fire with a 9mm gun inside the classroom and then ran away.
The shooting prompted a campus lockdown, with students trapped in their rooms or hiding for hours. Police recovered 9 mm shell casings from the scene, and Perez said investigators believe the suspect “definitely targeted Brown University.”
Two students were killed and nine others were injured in the attack. The two students killed were identified as Ella Cook, a sophomore from Mountain Brook, Ala., and Mohammad Aziz Umurzokov, a Virginia freshman who immigrated from Uzbekistan.
As of December 16, the two injured students had been discharged from the hospital. Of the seven people still hospitalized, one is in critical condition, five are in critical but stable condition and one is in stable condition, authorities said.
Brown University has nearly 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students and is considered one of the most prestigious colleges in the United States. Brown University was founded in 1764 and is located in Providence, Rhode Island.
This is a development story.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MIT suspect Brown found dead. What you need to know about Claudio Manuel Neves Valente