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U.S. authorities said Thursday they are investigating links between a deadly shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor two days later, after the suspected gunman was found dead following a days-long manhunt.
The suspect, identified as Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a storage unit in New Hampshire, officials said at separate press conferences in Providence and Boston. Two firearms were recovered at the scene. Authorities said Neves Valente acted alone.
“There was no immediate indication of a motive,” officials said, adding that the attacks rattled two of the United States’ most prominent universities.
The violence began Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside an engineering classroom at Brown University in Providence during final exams, killing two students and injuring nine others. Police said the suspect fled the campus, triggering a large-scale manhunt.
The FBI used surveillance footage to identify a person of interest seen wearing black clothing and a face mask, though none of the images clearly showed the suspect’s face. A $50,000 reward was offered for information leading to the suspect’s arrest and conviction.
The two students killed were identified as Ella Cook, a sophomore from Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an Uzbek American freshman.
“Both were brilliant and beloved, as members of our campus community, but even more by their friends and families,” Brown University President Christina Paxson said in a statement. “Our hearts continue to be with them in their profound sorrow.”
Six of the wounded students remained hospitalized in stable condition, while three were released, Paxson said late Thursday.
Two days after the Brown shooting, law enforcement officials said MIT physics professor Nuno Loureiro, 47, was found shot Monday at his home in the Boston suburb of Brookline. He died the following day in the hospital.
Authorities said they believed the two shootings were connected but initially released few details as the investigation unfolded.
For several days, investigators released surveillance images of a person of interest and sought public assistance, voicing frustration over limited leads. Officials later said the case broke open after investigators linked financial data and surveillance footage from both crime scenes.
“The groundwork that started in the city of Providence led us to that connection,” Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said.
Federal prosecutor Leah Foley, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, said Neves Valente had been “sophisticated in hiding his tracks,” switching license plates on a rental vehicle and using a phone that was difficult to trace.
Authorities initially detained another individual but later released him.
Neves Valente, who once studied physics at Brown University, had been a permanent U.S. resident since 2017, officials said.
“Tonight, our Providence neighbors can finally breathe a little bit easier,” Mayor Brett Smiley said.
The shootings raised questions about campus security, including scrutiny over Brown University’s surveillance system after it emerged that its security cameras were not linked to local police systems. President Donald Trump publicly questioned the university’s security arrangements.
The incidents come amid continued debate over gun violence in the United States. More than 300 mass shootings have occurred nationwide this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot.
“Nothing can fully bring closure to the lives that have been shattered by last weekend’s gun violence,” Paxson said. “Now, however, our community has the opportunity to move forward and begin a path of repair, recovery and healing.”
Following the attacks, Trump ordered the suspension of the U.S. green card diversity visa lottery program.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday she directed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the program at Trump’s instruction, linking the decision directly to the suspect, who entered the United States through the lottery.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” Noem said in a statement posted on X.
Authorities confirmed Neves Valente killed two students at Brown University, wounded nine others and later killed the MIT professor before taking his own life, ending the manhunt.
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