The man suspected of killing two Brown University students and injuring nine others was found dead Thursday night in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. Authorities say the discovery ends a tense, five-day manhunt that stretched across two states.
Officials also believe the same suspect murdered renowned MIT physics professor Nuno F. G. Loureiro inside his Brookline, Massachusetts home on Monday.
The Suspect: A Former Brown Student Who Came Back With a Gun
Investigators identified the shooter as Claudio Neves Valente, 48.
He took his own life, according to federal and state authorities. His body was found next to several firearms.
Valente was a Portuguese national who once studied physics at Brown, attending from 2000 to 2001. Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez said Valente was last known to be living in Miami before resurfacing in Providence this week.
Surveillance video later placed him walking near the Brown campus both hours before and after the attack.
The Classroom Attack That Shook the Campus
The shooting erupted around 4 p.m. Saturday inside Barus & Holley Hall, home to Brown’s engineering and physics departments. Students gathered for an economics review session ahead of finals when they heard the first gunshots.
Witnesses say a masked man sprinted into the room and opened fire without hesitation.
Two students died:
- Ella Cook, 19, from Birmingham, Alabama
- Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, originally from Uzbekistan
Nine others were wounded.
Cook’s family described her as a “bright light” and a “silent leader” with deep faith and sharp intellect. She majored in French and Mathematics-Economics and loved teaching, volunteering, and spending time with friends.
Umurzokov immigrated to the U.S. in 2011. A freshman with dreams of becoming a neurosurgeon, he attended the review session simply because he loved learning — even though he wasn’t enrolled in the class.
“Everyone knew him,” freshman Shane Toomey told Ocean State Media. “He could talk to anybody about anything.”
Another Murder Two Days Later
On Monday, MIT professor Nuno F. G. Loureiro, 47, was shot and killed at his home.
He was one of the most respected plasma-physics and fusion researchers in the world.
MIT colleagues remembered him as “a star in his field” — brilliant, humble, and deeply devoted to teaching. Born in Portugal, he pursued science from childhood, studying in Lisbon before earning his doctorate in London.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth said Loureiro believed fusion energy would “change the course of human history.”
The Break in the Case
The investigation accelerated Wednesday night.
A tip led police to a vehicle tied to the suspect. That car connected investigators to a Massachusetts rental company. Inside the company’s records were:
- Photos matching the suspect
- His real name
- Hotel and travel receipts
- Surveillance timestamps
U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said financial tracking placed Valente in Rhode Island, Boston, and Brookline at critical moments.
Video also captured him entering an apartment building near Loureiro’s residence, then entering the Salem storage unit an hour after the professor’s murder. He wore the same clothes seen immediately after the killing.
Police followed that trail to the storage unit Thursday evening. Inside, they found him dead.
A Campus Relieved but Devastated
For five days, Brown students and Providence residents lived under uncertainty. Snow fell. Exams shifted. Police flooded the neighborhood.
Only after the announcement Thursday night did tension begin to ease.
“Tonight our Providence neighbors can finally breathe a little easier,” said Mayor Brett Smiley.
The Motive: Still Unknown
Authorities continue to investigate:
- Valente’s history in Portugal
- His relationship with Loureiro
- Digital communications
- Travel patterns
- Mental state leading up to the attacks
Officials did confirm one link: Valente and Loureiro attended the same school in Lisbon years ago.
Brown President Christina Paxson also noted that Valente would have spent significant time in Barus & Holley Hall during his earlier years at the university — the same building where he carried out Saturday’s attack.
The full motive may take weeks to uncover.
For now, two campuses mourn.
Two families grieve.
And investigators try to piece together how a former student returned to the place he once learned — and turned it into a crime scene.
