PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The man suspected of carrying out a deadly shooting at Brown University and the killing of a senior nuclear science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology died by suicide as law enforcement closed in on him, officials said Thursday night.
Authorities identified the suspect as Claudio Valente, a 48-year-old former Brown University student from Portugal. Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said Valente was found dead inside a storage facility in neighboring New Hampshire, expanding the multistate investigation across Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
The violence began Saturday at Brown University in Providence, where two students were killed and nine others wounded when a gunman opened fire inside the School of Engineering as students were preparing for final exams.
Two days later, MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center Director Nuno Loureiro was fatally shot at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Loureiro, like Valente, was a native of Portugal.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said the motive behind the attacks remains unclear. He noted that Valente had previously been enrolled in a master’s and Ph.D. program in physics at Brown University before dropping out in 2001. Officials also said Valente and Loureiro had studied together earlier at a university in Portugal.
The investigation initially faced setbacks after FBI Director Kash Patel announced Sunday that a suspect had been arrested, a claim later walked back when investigators ruled that individual out.
Neronha said a major breakthrough came after authorities released surveillance images showing Valente with another individual. That person later contacted investigators and provided critical information, including the license plate number of Valente’s rental vehicle, which ultimately led police to him.
Investigators later confirmed that DNA evidence linked Valente to the Brown University shooting.
At a separate news conference in Boston, Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said Valente’s vehicle connected him to both crime scenes.
The attacks sent shockwaves through academic communities nationwide, heightening security concerns at elite university campuses across the United States. (Source: IANS)
