Authorities on December 18 announced that they had tracked down the man responsible for both the fatal shooting at Brown University and the shooting death of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno FG Loureiro two days later, finding him dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a Salem, Massachusetts, storage unit.
Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, originally from Portugal, was a former Brown University PhD physics student, who knew Loureiro, authorities said in two separate news conferences on the night of Dec. 18.
Investigators said they identified Valente on the afternoon of Dec. 17 and were able to connect him to both crime scenes through background financial information, including rental car records for the car he rented and drove to Providence and back to Massachusetts.
Brown’s shooting shocked the Ivy League School and the school’s surrounding community.
Authorities said at the news conference in Boston that Valente was “sophisticated in covering his tracks,” including obscuring his cell phone so it could not be tracked, changing the plates on his rental car and not using credit cards in his name.
An affidavit signed by a Rhode Island district judge said police cracked the case after a tipster spotted a rental car driving around the area. The tipster said police should be looking for a gray Nissan Altima and a license plate, information that police had not previously released. Police then discovered images of Neves Valente renting the car at an Alamo location in Boston.
Here’s what you need to know about the shooter:
Still image of Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, the suspected Brown University shooter at an Alamo Car Rental facility in Boston on November 17, 2025.
When did Claudio Manuel Neves Valente enter the United States?
Neves Valente entered the country in 2000 on an F-1 student visa. He was admitted as a legal permanent resident in 2017.
Brown officials say he was a PhD student before taking a leave of absence in April 2001. He retired on July 31, 2003. His last known address was in Miami, according to police.
The tipster first took his information to the social media site Reddit, posting: “I’m being dead serious. The police need to look at a gray Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental,” wrote John, whose last name is being withheld by authorities, according to the affidavit.
When was the identification announced?
The announcement was made after the authorities urged the public to help in the growing investigation and in the days-long search for the person suspected of carrying out the attack. Earlier in the week, authorities released enhanced images and video of the person who investigators believe may be linked to the shooting that killed two people and injured nine others.
Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said that investigators had evidence that the possible suspect was close to the university hours before the shooting. Footage from neighborhood cameras shared by authorities showed the person in dark clothing and wearing a mask walking along streets a few blocks away from campus on December 13.
Investigators believe that the person was probably “putting together” the scene, according to Perez.
“There are many leads that we have here that show that the person who committed this tragedy is the man in this video,” said the police chief.
Although on December 16 officials said they were confident that the person in the video is the suspect, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha noted that they had “zero” evidence for the motive of the attack. Witnesses said the person was probably in their 30s, and it was unclear if they were affiliated with the university, Perez said.
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Authorities released a video timeline of the movements of potential suspects
Police have received more than 200 tips since the shooting, according to Perez. The police chief had asked for the public’s help to identify the suspected armed man, and said that the investigators were hoping that the new videos would help someone recognize the person.
“Focus on the body movements, the way the person moved their arms, the posture of the body, the way they carry the weight,” said Perez. “I think those are important movement patterns that can help you identify this individual, which is extremely important.”
The video included time-lapse video that included surveillance video from neighborhood cameras and a vehicle’s dash camera.
In one video, the suspected shooter can be seen leaving the scene of the shooting as a police car arrives with emergency lights flashing. The last video shows the suspect walking along that road just a few minutes after the attack.
Did the suspect target Brown University?
The shooting at the Ivy League University happened shortly before 4:05 pm local time on December 13 in an engineering building with the doors open as final exams were underway. Authorities said the suspect opened fire with a 9mm handgun inside a classroom and then fled.
The shooting led to a campus lockdown that left students barricaded in rooms or hiding for hours. Officers recovered a 9mm shell casing 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, Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, a freshman from Virginia who immigrated from Uzbekistan.
As of December 16, two of the injured students have been released from the hospital. Of the seven people who remained hospitalized, the authorities said that one was in a critical condition, five were in a critical but stable condition, and one was in a stable condition.
Brown University, which has nearly 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students, is considered one of the most prestigious colleges in the country. Brown was founded in 1764 and is located in Providence, Rhode Island.
This is a developing story.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brown, MIT suspect found dead. What you should know about Claudio Manuel Neves Valente