Ask Onix
Suspect in deadly Brown University attack dies by suicide
Police confirmed late Friday that Claudio Neves Valente, 48, the prime suspect in last week's mass shooting at Brown University, was found dead in a Salem, New Hampshire storage unit. Authorities believe he took his own life with a gunshot wound.
Timeline of the six-day manhunt
Valente, a Portuguese national, became the focus of a multi-state search after opening fire inside Brown's Barus & Holley engineering building on 13 December. The attack left two students dead and nine others wounded. Six victims remain hospitalized.
Two days later, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F Gomes Loureiro, 47, was fatally shot at his Brookline home, approximately 50 miles from Providence. Police linked the cases after identifying Valente's vehicle near both crime scenes through CCTV footage and witness accounts.
Connections to victims and past ties
Brown University president Christina Paxson stated Valente was enrolled at the Ivy League institution from autumn 2000 to spring 2001, pursuing a PhD in physics. She emphasized he had no ongoing affiliation with the university.
Both Valente and Loureiro attended the same university in Portugal during the late 1990s, according to investigators. Police have not disclosed a potential motive for either killing.
Investigation details and challenges
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha reported that Valente was discovered with a satchel and two firearms. Evidence recovered from a nearby vehicle matched the Providence crime scene.
FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Ted Docks noted that approximately 500 federal agents assisted local authorities. Despite Valente's death, Docks stressed that "many questions remain unanswered."
"He was sophisticated in hiding his tracks,"
Leah B Foley, US State Attorney for Massachusetts
Foley revealed Valente used a phone designed to evade tracking, complicating the search.
Public frustration and federal response
Community members expressed growing impatience as the investigation appeared to stall in the days following the attack. On Wednesday, authorities released new surveillance footage showing a masked individual on Brown's campus, later identified as Valente.
The FBI had offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
In response to the shootings, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the suspension of the US green card lottery program. Valente entered the country in 2017 through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (DV1), which grants up to 50,000 visas annually via random selection from countries with low US immigration rates.
"Valente should never have been allowed in our country,"
Kristi Noem, Homeland Security Secretary
Noem stated the pause was directed by President Donald Trump to "prevent further harm" from the program.
Victims identified
Brown University confirmed the deaths of two students: Ella Cook, 19, a second-year student from Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, a first-year student of Uzbek-American descent.
