Man suspected in Brown University shooting and MIT professor’s killing is found dead, officials say

A frantic hunt for the fishy successful past weekend’s wide shooting astatine Brown University ended astatine a New Hampshire retention installation wherever authorities discovered the antheral dormant wrong and past revealed helium besides was suspected of sidesplitting a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.

Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a erstwhile Brown pupil and Portuguese national, was recovered dormant Thursday nighttime from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence constabulary chief.

Investigators judge helium is liable for fatally shooting 2 students and wounding 9 different radical successful a Brown lecture hallway past Saturday, past sidesplitting MIT prof Nuno F.G. Loureiro 2 days aboriginal astatine his location successful the Boston suburbs, astir 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Providence. Perez said arsenic acold arsenic investigators know, Neves Valente acted alone.

Brown University President Christina Paxson said Neves Valente was enrolled determination arsenic a postgraduate pupil studying physics from the autumn of 2000 to the outpouring of 2001.

“He has nary existent affiliation with the university,” she said.

Neves Valente and Loureiro antecedently attended the aforesaid world programme astatine a assemblage successful Portugal betwixt 1995 and 2000, U.S. lawyer for Massachusetts Leah B. Foley said. Loureiro graduated from the physics programme astatine Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal’s premier engineering school, successful 2000, according to his MIT module page. The aforesaid year, Neves Valente was fto spell from a presumption astatine the Lisbon university, according to an archive of a termination announcement from the school’s then-president successful February 2000.

Neves Valente had travel to Brown connected a pupil visa. He yet obtained ineligible imperishable residence presumption successful September 2017, Foley said. It was not instantly wide wherever helium was betwixt taking a permission of lack from the schoolhouse successful 2001 and getting the visa successful 2017. His past known residence was successful Miami.

After officials revealed the suspect's identity, President Donald Trump suspended the greenish paper lottery programme that allowed Neves Valente to enactment successful the United States.

There are inactive “a batch of unknowns” successful respect to motive, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. “We don’t cognize wherefore now, wherefore Brown, wherefore these students and wherefore this classroom,” helium said.

Tip helps investigators link the dots

The FBI antecedently said it knew of nary links betwixt the Rhode Island and Massachusetts shootings.

Police credited a idiosyncratic who had respective encounters with Neves Valente for providing a important extremity that led to the suspect.

After constabulary shared information video of a idiosyncratic of interest, the witnesser — known lone arsenic “John” successful a Providence constabulary affidavit — recognized him and posted his suspicions connected the societal media forum Reddit. Reddit users urged him to archer the FBI, and John said helium did.

John said helium had encountered Neves Valente hours earlier successful the bath of the engineering gathering wherever the shooting occurred and noticed helium was wearing inappropriate covering for the weather, according to the affidavit. He again bumped into Neves Valente a mates blocks distant and saw him abruptly crook distant from a Nissan sedan erstwhile helium saw John.

“When you bash ace it, you ace it. And that idiosyncratic led america to the car, which led america to the name,” Neronha said.

His extremity pointed investigators to a Nissan Sentra with Florida plates. That enabled Providence constabulary to pat into a web of much than 70 thoroughfare cameras operated astir the metropolis by surveillance institution Flock Safety. Those cameras way licence plates and different conveyance details.

After leaving Rhode Island, Providence officials said Neves Valente stuck a Maine licence sheet implicit his rental car’s sheet to assistance conceal his identity.

Investigators recovered footage of Neves Valente entering an flat gathering adjacent Loureiro's successful a Boston suburb. About an hr later, Neves Valente was seen entering the Salem, New Hampshire, retention installation wherever helium was recovered dead, Foley said. He had with him a satchel and 2 firearms, Neronha said.

Victims see renowned physicist, governmental organizer and aspiring doctor

Loureiro, a 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist, had joined MIT successful 2016 and was named past twelvemonth to pb the school’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, 1 of its largest laboratories. The idiosyncratic from Viseu, Portugal, had been moving to explicate the physics down astronomical phenomena specified arsenic star flares.

The 2 Brown students killed during a survey league for last exams were 19-year-old sophomore Ella Cook and 18-year-old freshman MukhammadAziz Umurzokov. Cook was progressive successful her Alabama religion and served arsenic vice president of the Brown College Republicans. Umurzokov’s household immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan erstwhile helium was a child, and helium aspired to beryllium a doctor.

As for the wounded, 3 had been discharged and six were successful unchangeable information Thursday, officials said.

Although Brown officials accidental determination are 1,200 cameras connected campus, the onslaught happened successful an older portion of the engineering gathering that has few, if any, cameras. And investigators judge the shooter entered and near done a doorway that faces a residential thoroughfare bordering campus, which mightiness explicate wherefore the cameras Brown does person didn’t seizure footage of the person.

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Associated Press reporters Mark Scolforo successful Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,, Audrey McAvoy successful Honolulu, Hallie Golden successful Seattle and Matt O'Brien successful Providence contributed.

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