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Suspect linked to shootings
Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in a Salem, New Hampshire, storage unit on Dec. 18, authorities said.
“Police say Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, the suspect in a Saturday mass shooting at Brown University that killed students Ella Cook and Mukhammed Aziz Umurzokov and wounded nine others, was found dead Thursday in a Salem, New Hampshire, storage unit of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
Investigators linked him to a Dec. 13 mass shooting at Brown University that killed two students and wounded nine others.
They also connected him to the Dec. 15 killing of MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro in Brookline.
Police and prosecutors said evidence connecting Neves Valente to the Brown attack and Loureiro’s killing included ties to a rented vehicle seen near Brown and financial records.
Security footage placed him near the professor’s residence and later showed him entering the storage unit wearing the same clothes.
U.S. prosecutors and the FBI said the two men likely knew each other and may have attended the same university program in Lisbon in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
[This summary draws together reporting on the discovery of Neves Valente’s death, the suspected link to two killings, and investigators’ statements about their prior connection.]
Evidence and investigation details
Investigators described multiple lines of evidence tying Neves Valente to the Brown shooting.
Those included a rented vehicle seen near Brown, financial records linking him to the car and hotels, and security footage placing him within about a half-mile of Loureiro's residence and later entering the Salem storage unit wearing the same clothes.
Officials, including the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts and the FBI, said the suspect and Loureiro likely had prior acquaintance through overlapping study in Portugal.
Brown University records show Neves Valente took physics classes there in 2000-2001.
Authorities said they are continuing to review records and interview people.
Death of MIT professor
The second victim identified in the unfolding investigation was 47-year-old Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a Portuguese-born MIT professor and director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
“Nuno F. Gomes Loureiro, a 47-year-old Portuguese professor of nuclear science and engineering and physics at MIT, has died after being shot inside his Massachusetts home.”
He was found with multiple gunshot wounds in his Brookline home and later died at a hospital.
Reporting from local and national outlets described a stunned community.
Neighbors left memorials and recalled Loureiro as an admired mentor.
MIT issued condolences and the Norfolk district attorney opened a homicide investigation.
Colleagues and Portuguese officials noted his research on plasma and fusion and the personal toll on his family.
He is survived by a wife and children.
Memorials and vigils were reported in Brookline.
Media coverage and investigation
Coverage varies in tone and in how much it allows speculation about motive.
Many outlets and officials stress that investigators have not determined a motive and urge caution against rumors, even as federal prosecutors and the FBI describe links between the suspected shooter and the professor.
Local reporting underscores community mourning and procedural steps, while tabloids and some opinion pieces have suggested broader geopolitical or targeted-attack theories.
Authorities continue to investigate and have not publicly confirmed a motive, and reporters note the overlap between the suspect's and the victim's academic histories without asserting a definitive cause.