In a shocking development, the suspect in the recent Brown University shooting, who was later found dead, has been identified as a Portuguese national who initially entered the United States on a student visa. Authorities have also revealed a potential connection to the fatal shooting of an MIT professor, suggesting a disturbing link between the two crimes.
Immigration History and University Ties
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha stated that the suspect, Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, first came to America in August 2000. He arrived on an F-1 student visa to attend the prestigious Brown University, where he was enrolled in the graduate physics program. According to the university, he studied physics until April 2001. Records show he briefly left the US in December 2000, returning the following month.
Brown University President Christina H. Paxson confirmed that Valente was admitted to the Master of Science PhD program in physics on September 1, 2000. He took a leave of absence in April 2001 and formally withdrew from the university, effective July 31, 2003. Paxson noted that the suspect enrolled only in physics classes, which were primarily held in the Barus & Holley building – the very location where the shooting later occurred.
His immigration status evolved over the years. Neronha explained that Valente was issued a Diversity Immigrant Visa in May 2017. Several months after that, he applied for and was granted lawful permanent resident status, commonly known as a Green Card, later in the same year.
Disturbing Connection to MIT Professor's Murder
Investigators are now probing a chilling connection between the Brown University shooting and the murder of MIT physics professor Nuno Loureiro, 47, who was found fatally shot in his Brookline, Massachusetts home on Monday night. This was just two days after the incident at Brown.
An FBI official disclosed a significant lead. Ted Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston field office, stated at a news conference, “It is believed that in Lisbon that those two individuals attended the same university in Portugal.” Professor Loureiro, before joining MIT, was a researcher at the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) in Lisbon.
U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah B. Foley provided crucial evidence linking the crimes. Security video from the Brookline apartment complex where the professor was killed tied the Brown University suspect to that location. Investigators identified a vehicle Valente had rented, which he drove from Boston to Brown University and back to Boston.
“And then there was the security footage that captured him within a half-mile of the professor’s residence in Brookline,” Foley said. She further detailed, “There is video footage of him entering an apartment building in the location of the professor’s apartment. And then later that evening, he is seen, about an hour later, entering the storage unit wearing the same clothes that he had been seen wearing right after the murder.”
Ongoing Investigation and Unanswered Questions
The case has now expanded into a multi-jurisdictional investigation involving local police, the FBI, and federal attorneys. The core focus is on establishing the precise nature of the relationship, if any, between Valente and Professor Loureiro, and determining the motive behind the two shootings.
The sequence of events—from the shooting at an Ivy League university to a professor's murder in a nearby state—has raised serious concerns. Authorities are piecing together Valente's movements and activities in the days leading up to the violence, using rental car records, security footage, and his immigration and academic history.
As the investigation continues, the academic communities at both Brown University and MIT are grappling with the tragedy, while law enforcement works to uncover the full story behind these connected acts of violence.
