Brown–MIT Case: Suspect Found Dead, Manhunt Ends

PROVIDENCE :  The week-long manhunt for the gunman who terrorized two of New England’s most prestigious universities ended in a grim discovery on Thursday night.

Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside an “Extra Space Storage” facility in Salem, New Hampshire. Authorities confirmed that Valente was the primary suspect in both the December 13 mass shooting at Brown University and the targeted assassination of MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro in Brookline two days later.

Investigators revealed that Valente was a Portuguese national and a former graduate student at Brown University. He was enrolled in the physics PhD program from 2000 to 2001 before withdrawing.

Authorities have scoured the area for evidence and pleaded with the public to check any phone or security footage they might have from the week before the attack.

University President Christina Paxson noted that Valente’s coursework was primarily based in the Barus & Holley Engineering and Physics building—the exact location where he opened fire on Saturday, killing two students and wounding nine others.

While the Brown shooting appeared to be an act of “maximum carnage” against a community he once belonged to, the murder of Professor Loureiro appeared far more personal.

• Both Valente and Loureiro attended the same academic program at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal between 1995 and 2000.
• Loureiro, a renowned fusion scientist, was gunned down in his Brookline home on Monday.
• Surveillance footage placed Valente at Loureiro’s residence and later captured him entering the New Hampshire storage unit wearing the same clothing worn during the murder.

The breakthrough came when a witness, identified only as “John,” recognized Valente from released security footage and reported seeing him “casing” the Brown campus hours before the shooting. This led the FBI to rental car records and eventually to the storage facility in Salem.