The deceased gunman who authorities say murdered Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro previously knew and studied with the victim at a Portuguese university.
The suspect, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, was a former Brown University student and Portuguese national. Neves Valente is the suspect in both Loureiro’s murder and the Brown University mass shooting from Saturday, in which he allegedly killed two students and injured nine.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Leah Foley confirmed Neves Valente as the suspect in Loureiro’s murder during a press conference Thursday evening. Foley said the gunman and the victim knew each other, but she did not know whether the two had recently been in contact.
Neves Valente “attended the same academic program as the MIT professor, Nuno Loureiro, in Portugal, between 1995 and 2000,” Foley said.
Loureiro was a professor of physics and of nuclear science and engineering at MIT and was also originally from Portugal.
Neves Valente attended Brown University from fall 2000 to spring 2001, Brown University President Christina Paxson said. During this time, Neves Valente enrolled in Brown’s Ph.D. physics program before taking a leave of absence and ultimately withdrawing from the program. Neves Valente was only enrolled in physics classes at the university.
Foley said “there was no doubt” that Loureiro was Neves Valente’s intended target.
Authorities believe Neves Valente traveled from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, to Loureiro’s home in Brookline, Massachusetts, in a rental car, changing license plates during the drive.
Neves Valente died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, on Thursday evening while surrounded by law enforcement officers, Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts confirmed on X that there is no longer a threat to the public. Foley confirmed that, at this point in the ongoing investigation, authorities believe Neves Vilente acted alone.
“We have no information that he was acting in concert with anyone else right now,” Foley said.
BROWN UNIVERSITY SHOOTING SUSPECT FOUND DEAD IN NEW HAMPSHIRE STORAGE UNIT
Neves Vilente entered the United States in August 2000 on an F-1 student visa and obtained U.S. legal permanent residency in 2017, according to authorities. His last known address was in Miami.
Foley explained that Neves Valente rented a hotel room in Boston from Nov. 26-30 before driving to the vicinity of Brown University on Dec. 1 in a rental car.