The man suspected of carrying out a fatal shooting at Brown University that left two students dead and nine others injured has been found dead in a storage unit in New Hampshire, US authorities said on Thursday evening.
Prosecutors believe the same individual was also responsible for the killing of MIT physics professor Nuno F. G. Loureiro at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, earlier this week, according to Leah Foley, the US attorney for the District of Massachusetts.
The suspect was identified as Claudio Neves Valente, 48, who authorities say took his own life. His body was discovered on Thursday evening in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, with firearms found nearby. Valente was a former Brown University student and a Portuguese national who most recently lived in Miami, police said.
Brown University president Christina Paxson confirmed that Valente studied physics at the university between 2000 and 2001. Investigators also said he had attended the same university in Portugal as Loureiro.
How the sarch unfolded
Police said the investigation gained momentum on Wednesday night after a tip led them to a vehicle linked to the suspect. That discovery helped officers trace Valente through a car rental company in Massachusetts and confirm his identity.
News that the suspect had been located brought relief to the Brown campus and the wider Providence community, which had spent five days under heightened anxiety following the attack. Providence mayor Brett Smiley said residents could now «breathe a little easier».
The shooting occurred on Saturday afternoon at Barus and Holley Hall during a review session for an economics class ahead of final exams. The building houses Brown’s engineering school and physics department, where Valente would have spent time during his studies.
The victims were identified as Ella Cook, 19, and Mukhammadaziz Umurzokov, 18. Umurzokov, who moved to the United States from Uzbekistan in 2011 and later became a naturalised citizen, was remembered by classmates as deeply curious and widely liked. The US embassy in Uzbekistan said it was mourning the loss of a young man with a «bright future».
In the aftermath of the attack, Brown University cancelled all remaining in-person exams for the fall semester, saying the decision was taken to support students and staff as they coped with grief, fear and uncertainty.
DV1 halts
The US immigration authorities have been instructed to suspend the diversity visa lottery (DV1) after it was revealed that the suspect in the Brown University shooting had entered the country through the programme, said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Valente, 48, a Portuguese national and former Brown University student, obtained a green card via the diversity visa scheme in 2017.
She described him as «a heinous individual who should never have been allowed into our country» and said she was acting under President Trump’s orders to pause the DV1 programme immediately to prevent further harm to Americans.
The diversity visa programme permits up to 55,000 immigrants annually from countries with historically low levels of US immigration.
