Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, 48, the suspect behind the deadly Brown University shooting, was found dead in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police and FBI agents swarmed the area late Thursday during the search for the gunman.
The tragic shooting spree spanned two Ivy League campuses. Neves-Valente was linked to the fatal shooting of MIT physics professor Nuno Loureiro, 47, who was killed at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, approximately 50 miles north of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
At Brown, Neves-Valente shot two students and injured nine others in an engineering building last Saturday before fleeing the scene. The FBI initially denied a connection between the Brown incident and the MIT murder, but a Boston federal official later confirmed Neves-Valente was responsible for both attacks.
Neves-Valente had a brief history at Brown University. University president Christina Paxson confirmed he studied physics from autumn 2000 to spring 2001, eventually taking a leave and formally withdrawing in 2003. Authorities have not yet determined the motive behind the attacks.
“Authorities are still piecing together the suspect’s background and what led to these devastating events,” said a police source.
The shootings have left the Brown and MIT communities in shock. Students, faculty, and staff have expressed deep heartbreak and called for enhanced security measures in the wake of the tragic events.
