The man suspected of killing two Brown University students and later an MIT professor was found dead in a storage unit in New Hampshire on Thursday night after a six-day manhunt, officials said.
The alleged gunman, identified as 48-year-old Portuguese national and former Brown student Claudio Neves Valente, fatally shot himself in the storage unit, authorities said Thursday night.
They believe he opened fire in a classroom at Brown on Saturday, then shot Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a physicist and fusion scientist, in his apartment near Boston Monday night.
Authorities acting on a search warrant found Neves Valente dead in Salem, N.H., about 65 miles north of Providence, R.I., said Ted Docks, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Boston.
Officials said they didn’t yet know why the shooter targeted Brown and believe he acted alone. They said Neves Valente targeted Loureiro after both attended the same academic program in Portugal from 1995 to 2000.
An investigator works the scene at a storage facility where the Brown University shooter, identified by authorities as Claudio Neves Valente, took his own life, in Salem, New Hampshire, U.S., December 18, 2025. REUTERS/CJ Gunther
Neves Valente had enrolled in a physics graduate program from 2000 to 2001 at Brown before taking a leave of absence and formally withdrawing, Brown President Christina Paxson said. He was only enrolled in physics classes, most of which have been held in the engineering building where the shooting unfolded, Paxson said.
Authorities said Neves Valente’s last known address was in Miami. He became a legal permanent resident in 2017, the Providence mayor’s office said.
Neves Valente got a hotel room in Boston at the end of last month before renting a car and driving to Brown, said Leah Foley, U.S. attorney for Massachusetts. He stayed in the area until the Saturday shooting and then went back to Massachusetts.
On Monday, authorities say, Neves Valente gunned down Loureiro, a 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist, in his Brookline, Mass., apartment about 50 miles north of Brown. He died at a hospital the next day. Portugal-born Loureiro was director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, one of the university’s largest labs.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said the case cracked open Wednesday after authorities released a photo of a person whom they said was in proximity to the suspect at Brown.
“That person led us to the car, which led us to the name,” he said.
A member of the FBI returns equipment to their vehicle at a storage facility where the Brown University shooter, identified by authorities as Claudio Neves Valente, took his own life, in Salem, New Hampshire, U.S., December 18, 2025. REUTERS/CJ Gunther
The person originally said in a post on Reddit that they saw the suspect walking in the area, according to an affidavit for Neves Valente’s arrest. After authorities sought the person, the individual approached Providence police officers on Wednesday evening and participated in an interview.
This man had interacted with Neves Valente in a bathroom in the engineering building before following him out, Providence Police Department Chief Oscar Perez said. According to the affidavit, the man, identified as “John,” observed Neves Valente approach a gray or silver Nissan and appear to open it with a fob, only to walk away and start circling the block.
Perez said they identified Neves Valente’s vehicle, which led them to a car rental site in Massachusetts. There they found footage of the suspect along with a copy of an agreement mentioning his real name. Perez said financial records led them to Salem, N.H.
A Brown custodian told Providence police that an individual matching the description of the suspect visited the engineering building on Nov. 28 and Dec. 1, according to the affidavit.
Neronha said some witnesses of the shooting reported that Neves Valente made a barking noise while in the classroom, while others said he said nothing. Neves Valente wasn’t identified as the person of interest until Wednesday.
Tristan Keyser-Parker, a Brown student who was in the engineering building during the shooting, said he was “very relieved” that the gunman was no longer at large, but said he wished authorities caught him alive. “The most important thing is that we are all safe from him now,” he said.
Write to Alyssa Lukpat at alyssa.lukpat@wsj.com , Neil Mehta at neil.mehta@wsj.com and Jared Mitovich at jared.mitovich@wsj.com
