Police Trace Brown University Shooting Suspect to New Hampshire Storage Unit, Find Him Dead

Authorities say the man suspected of killing an MIT professor during a shooting on the Brown University campus was located in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, where he apparently took his own life at the end of a multistate search.

Investigators identified the suspect as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, a Portuguese national and former Brown University graduate student. Valente was discovered Thursday night, Dec. 18, with two firearms in a satchel beside him, according to federal officials. An autopsy will establish the exact time of death, but detectives believe he died before officers breached the unit.

The initial attack in Providence

The shooting occurred earlier in the week inside the Barus & Holley building on Brown’s Providence, Rhode Island, campus, where exams were under way and the doors had been left unlocked. Police said Valente opened fire, fatally striking MIT physics professor Nuno F. G. Loureiro. No additional fatalities were reported, and investigators have found no evidence that anyone else aided the gunman or that further attacks were planned.

Break in the manhunt

Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said a key breakthrough came from a detailed tip about a gray Nissan with Florida plates seen leaving the campus area. A caller told authorities, “Police need to look into a gray Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental.” License-plate reader data corroborated the information and steered officers toward a car rental agency in the Boston suburb of Revere, Massachusetts.

Surveillance video from the agency showed Valente signing a rental agreement in his own name, matching images captured on Brown’s security cameras the day of the shooting. The rental records also linked the vehicle to transactions at a Salem, New Hampshire, self-storage complex. Investigators obtained search warrants and, shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday, an FBI SWAT team entered the unit and found Valente deceased.

Evidence recovered

Officials said the firearms found with Valente are being examined to determine whether they match ballistics from spent casings collected at the Providence crime scene. Federal and state forensic specialists are also comparing DNA and other trace evidence recovered from the storage unit, the rental car and the university building.

Financial documents and surveillance footage tie both the storage unit and the vehicle directly to the suspect, investigators added. While the search turned up no manifesto or writings, forensic analysis of electronic devices seized at multiple locations is ongoing.

Background of the suspect

University records show Valente enrolled in Brown’s physics graduate program in September 2000, took a leave of absence in April 2001 and formally withdrew effective July 31, 2003. He did not earn a degree and has had no official affiliation with the institution for more than 20 years. Prior to his time in the United States, Valente studied physics engineering at Portugal’s Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) from 1995 to 2000 and briefly served as a teaching assistant there.

Imagem: Internet

Investigators say Valente obtained lawful U.S. permanent residency in April 2017 after winning a slot in the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. Federal officials noted that the administration has now paused the program pending review. Authorities have found no prior criminal record for Valente in either Portugal or the United States.

Security review and ongoing investigation

Brown University President Christina Paxson informed students and staff that the school will reevaluate campus access protocols, noting that the building’s doors were unlocked to accommodate scheduled examinations on the day of the shooting. No decision has yet been announced on potential security changes.

Law enforcement agencies continue to analyze the physical evidence collected in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Ballistic results, electronic data extractions and the medical examiner’s findings are expected to help determine the sequence of events and confirm whether Valente acted entirely on his own.

Authorities have not established a motive. Investigators said they delayed publicly releasing Valente’s name Wednesday night to avoid prompting him to flee or escalate violence while they positioned units near potential targets, including the rental agency and the storage facility.

The Salem storage site remains sealed as evidence technicians finish processing the scene. Officials have announced no timetable for concluding the investigation, but reiterated that there is no current threat to the public.

Crédito da imagem: FBI Boston via Reuters