Key clues to Claudio Neves Valente’s deadly shooting at Brown University and the subsequent murder of an MIT professor may date as far back as 30 years—and even to another country. The motive behind the Portuguese national’s violent attacks remains unclear as of Friday, a day after he was found dead by suicide.
It came as it was revealed that the 48-year-old shooter had longstanding ties to both the Ivy League campus and the late nuclear science professor, Nuno Loureiro. Authorities said Neves Valente began his deadly rampage at Brown University on Saturday as he opened fire in a lecture hall and killed two students and injured nine others.
Long-Standing Grudge
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Two days later, he traveled about 50 miles and shot dead MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, 47. The killer and Loureiro first met between 1995 and 2000 at Portugal’s Instituto Superior Técnico, where they were both enrolled in the same course, authorities and the school have confirmed.
“My understanding is that they did know each other,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Leah Foley, during a Thursday press briefing, according to CBS News.
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Neves Valente came to the United States in 2000 on an F-1 student visa and began a doctoral program at Brown that fall. However, his time at the Ivy League school was brief. He took a leave of absence in spring 2001 and formally left the university in July 2003.
Officials said that he had no ongoing connection to the school.
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More than a decade later, in April 2017, the troubled gunman obtained lawful U.S. permanent residency.
Meticulously Planned Attack
In the weeks before the attacks, Neves Valente rented a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, in November and also booked a hotel room in Boston later that month. Around December 1, he rented a gray Nissan Sentra with Florida plates—a vehicle that was spotted several times near Brown’s campus through December 12.
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His deadly spree began on Saturday when he opened fire in a Brown University classroom, killing sophomore Ella Cook and freshman Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, and injuring nine others, police said.
Later, he changed the car’s license plates and traveled to Brookline on Monday, where he shot Loureiro at the professor’s home.
The gunman was believed to be alive and on the move Thursday, before he was found later that night inside the storage unit he had rented, having died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound—bringing the nearly weeklong manhunt to an end, authorities and CNN reported.
