Brown University Shooter Found Dead in New Hampshire Storage Unit

The man suspected of killing two students and wounding nine others at Brown University was found dead in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, officials said.\n\n## Suspect and Death\n\nThe suspect, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, died by suicide, Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez told reporters Thursday. Valente was located in a unit roughly 80 miles north of Providence, Rhode Island, that authorities had obtained warrants to search, said Ted Docks, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston field office.\n\n## Background on Valente\n\nValente, a Portuguese national whose last known address was in Miami, attended Brown in the early 2000s as a Ph.D. student studying physics before he withdrew in 2003, university President Christina Paxson told reporters. A judge signed an arrest warrant Thursday accusing him of interstate murder, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said.\n\n## Investigation and Motive\n\nNeronha said it was unclear why he opened fire. \”Why Brown? I think that is a mystery,\” he said, adding: \”I don’t think we have any idea why now, or why Brown, why these students, why this classroom. That is really unknown to us.\” He added that a person who saw a photo of the suspect reached out to authorities with information and \”blew this case right open.\” That information led police to a rental car, the suspect’s name and photos of him renting the car, he said. The clothing he was seen wearing in those photos matched the clothing worn by the shooter at Brown, Neronha said.\n\n## Other Crimes\n\nLeah B. Foley, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, told reporters at a separate news conference Thursday night that Valente also fatally shot Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro at his home on Dec. 15. Docks, the FBI agent, said Valente appears to have attended the same university in Portugal as Loureiro.\n\n## Details of the Brown Shooting\n\nOfficials previously said the suspect who opened fire at Brown on Saturday used a 9 mm handgun in a first‑floor classroom of the school’s Barus & Holley building. Final exams had started the day before and were continuing when gunfire rang out at the Providence campus. The shooting prompted a days‑long manhunt for the gunman, who police said left out of the Hope Street side of the complex. State police, the FBI, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. marshals — even the IRS — were assisting in the investigation, Perez said.\n\nOn Monday, police released more videos and images of a person they were seeking, which were recorded around two hours before Saturday’s shooting, and the FBI announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and a conviction of the shooter. \”It’s all hands on deck,\” Perez told reporters Monday evening. \”There’s no one that wants to put this individual in handcuffs more than us.\”\n\nA person of interest had been detained Sunday, a day after the shooting, but that person was released from custody after investigators determined the evidence did not support his detention, officials said.\n\nA 911 call about an active shooter on the Ivy League campus came in at 4:05 p.m. Saturday, and students were told to lock doors and silence phones as an hours‑long shelter‑in‑place warning took effect on campus and in the surrounding community.\n\nKilled in the shooting were Ella Cook, 19, a Birmingham, Alabama, native and vice president of the Brown College Republicans chapter, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, who was from Uzbekistan and who family members said had a \”bright future\” ahead of him and dreamed of becoming a neurosurgeon. Most of the wounded were left in critical condition.\n\nProvidence Mayor Brett Smiley said he has gotten support and offers of help from mayors of other cities. \”But one of the just depressing facts is, I’ve received dozens of texts from other mayors saying, ‘I’ve been through this, we’re here for you, call us if you need help for advice,’\”, Smiley said Monday. \”Sadly, this happens far too frequently.\”\n\nNicole Acevedo contributed.\n\n## Key Takeaways\n\n- Suspect Claudio Neves Valente was found dead by suicide in a New Hampshire storage unit.\n- The shooting at Brown killed two students and wounded nine, with the suspect also murdering an MIT professor.\n- Investigation involved multiple federal agencies and a $50,000 reward for information.\n\nThe discovery of Valente’s body in Salem, New Hampshire, brings a grim close to the investigation into the tragic events that unfolded at Brown University and the subsequent killing of an MIT professor, underscoring the reach of the manhunt and the ongoing impact on the campus communities.