WASHINGTON — An autopsy has confirmed that the man suspected of carrying out last weekend’s deadly shooting at Brown University and the subsequent killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor died by suicide days before his body was discovered, New Hampshire authorities said on Friday.
Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a Portuguese national and former Brown University graduate student, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, on Thursday night, according to Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez.
The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office said the autopsy determined that Neves Valente died on Tuesday — the same day that MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, died in hospital after being shot at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Authorities did not specify the exact time of death.
Investigators believe Neves Valente carried out a shooting at Brown University last Saturday, killing two students and wounding nine others during a study session in a lecture hall.
Police say he then traveled to Massachusetts and fatally shot Loureiro at his residence on Monday night before taking his own life the following day.
The discovery of Neves Valente’s body ended a nearly weeklong manhunt that followed the campus attack in Providence. Authorities say he acted alone and that there is no evidence of additional suspects.
Investigators are still trying to determine what prompted Neves Valente to return to Brown University more than two decades after he studied there during the 2000–2001 academic year.
He later dropped out and had no current affiliation with the university, according to Brown President Christina Paxson.
Officials said Neves Valente and Loureiro had attended the same academic program in Portugal between 1995 and 2000.
Loureiro graduated from Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon in 2000, while Neves Valente was dismissed that same year from a temporary student support and faculty liaison position at the institution, according to archived university records.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said investigators are facing “a lot of unknowns,” including why the suspect targeted Brown University, the specific classroom, and the students inside.
Authorities credited a tip from a witness who recognized Neves Valente after police released surveillance images.
The individual, identified only as “John” in court documents, said he encountered Neves Valente in a bathroom at Brown’s engineering building hours before the shooting and later reported his suspicions to the FBI after posting on Reddit.
That tip led investigators to a Nissan Sentra with Florida license plates, which police tracked using a citywide camera network.
Authorities say Neves Valente later covered the vehicle’s plate with a Maine license plate in an apparent attempt to avoid detection.
Surveillance footage later showed Neves Valente entering an apartment building near Loureiro’s home before traveling to the New Hampshire storage facility, where he was seen carrying a satchel and two firearms.
Loureiro, a leading fusion scientist, joined MIT in 2016 and was appointed last year to head its Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
Colleagues described him as a respected researcher who worked on understanding solar flares and other astrophysical phenomena.
The two Brown students killed in the shooting were identified as 19-year-old sophomore Ella Cook, vice president of the Brown College Republicans, and 18-year-old freshman MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, who aspired to become a doctor. Six of the wounded students remain in stable condition, while three have been discharged.
Following the release of the suspect’s identity, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the suspension of the green card lottery program under which Neves Valente had obtained permanent residency in 2017.
Investigations in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire remain ongoing as authorities continue to piece together the sequence of events and possible motives behind the attacks. — Agencies
