Brown University shooting suspect found dead, police say
The suspect in last week’s mass shooting at Brown University was found dead in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, following a six-day multi-state manhunt, police say.
They identified the suspect as Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a Portuguese national who studied at the university in Providence, Rhode Island, about 25 years ago.
Providence police chief Oscar Perez said video evidence and tips from the public led investigators to a car-rental location where they found the suspect’s name and matched him to their person of interest.
Officials said they also believe Valente killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor two days after the 13 December shooting at Brown.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said Valente was found dead with a satchel and two firearms.
Evidence in a car nearby matched to the scene of the shooting at Brown University in Providence.
Initial findings suggest Valente died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and police were unable to comment on how long he might have been inside the storage unit.
“Even though the suspect was found dead tonight our work is not done. There are many questions that need to be answered,” FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Ted Docks said, adding that the agency had deployed approximately 500 agents to assist local authorities in the investigation.
Brown University President Christina Paxson said that Valente was enrolled at the Ivy League school from the autumn of 2000 to spring 2001, and was studying for a PhD in physics.
He had “no current active affiliation” to Brown, she said.
Officials said they believe Valente shot and killed MIT professor Nuno F Gomes Loureiro, 47, on Monday at his home in Brookline, which is about 50 miles (80km) from Providence.
Both the victim and the suspect had studied at the same university in Portugal in the late 1990s, police said.
Officials said the cases were linked when the suspect’s vehicle was identified via CCTV footage and a witness at Brown University.
The same car was spotted nearby to the scene of the professor’s shooting in Brookline, Massachusetts.
“He was using a phone that obfuscated the ability to track it,” said Leah B Foley, the US state attorney representing Massachusetts.”
“He was sophisticated in hiding his tracks.”
Authorities have not provided any suspected motive for either attack.
For days, members of the public had expressed frustration at the investigation into the shooting at Brown University last Saturday, after it appeared to yield little progress almost a week after the attack.
A gunman burst into Brown University’s Barus & Holley engineering building and opened fire during final exams.
Two students were killed and a further nine injured. Six remain in hospital.
Authorities identified the two dead victims as Ella Cook, 19, a sophomore from Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, an Uzbek-American freshman student.
Police had asked for patience from Rhode Islanders and on Wednesday released new footage of a person of interest, where a man was seen walking around the university campus with a black mask over his mouth.
The FBI also offered a $50,000 (£37,350) reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the attack.
By BBC News