Authorities have identified 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Manuel Neves Valente as the suspect responsible for a deadly shooting at Brown University on December 13, 2025, that killed two students and injured nine others, as well as the subsequent murder of an MIT professor. Valente, a former brief graduate student at Brown in the early 2000s, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, on December 18, ending a multi-state manhunt.
The attack at Brown's Barus and Holley Building occurred during a review session for a Principles of Economics class, where Valente opened fire, fatally shooting students Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov while wounding nine more. Two days later, on December 15, he allegedly shot and killed renowned MIT nuclear science and engineering professor Nuno Loureiro at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Valente and Loureiro had been classmates at Portugal's Instituto Superior Técnico in the late 1990s.
Investigators linked the crimes through surveillance footage, a rented gray Nissan Sentra with Florida plates, and hotel records. A crucial breakthrough came from a Reddit post by an anonymous tipster who described encountering a suspicious man near campus and suggested checking the vehicle. This information, corroborated by authorities, rapidly advanced the case.
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Valente had entered the United States in 2017 via the Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery program and held permanent residency. In response, President Donald Trump directed the suspension of the program, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem citing the suspect's immigration path as justification.
No clear motive has been publicly established for the attacks, though former classmates described Valente as a brilliant but egotistical student whose academic career stalled after leaving Brown. The incidents have deeply shaken the academic communities at both elite institutions, prompting heightened security discussions and grief support.
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