Rental car, campus tips, CCTV footage: How investigators linked Brown University shooting to killing of MIT professor

A Salem Police Department cruiser is parked outside the storage facility where the suspect behind the mass shooting at Brown University was found dead, in Salem, New Hampshire, on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Bing Guan / AFP)

US investigators have concluded a multi-state manhunt after linking the mass shooting at Brown University to the killing of an MIT professor, a breakthrough that led authorities to a storage facility in New Hampshire where the suspect was found dead.

The suspect has been identified as 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, a former Brown University student and a Portuguese national. Authorities believe he acted alone in both attacks, Providence Police Chief Col Oscar L Perez Jr said late Thursday.

“Tonight, our Providence neighbors can finally breathe a little easier,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said during a news conference.

The development came five days after gunfire erupted inside Brown’s Barus and Holley building in Providence, Rhode Island, killing two people and injuring several others as students prepared for final exams. Two days later, an MIT professor was shot and killed at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Initially, federal investigators said there was no known connection between the two shootings. That assessment changed as evidence began to point toward a single suspect moving between states.

Academic link between suspect and victim

Authorities say the suspect had a personal connection to the MIT professor who was killed. The victim, Nuno Loureiro, was also a Portuguese national.

FBI Special Agent Ted Docks said investigators believe the two men attended school in Lisbon at the same time. That link was later confirmed by prosecutors.

“At a separate news conference Thursday, US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Leah Foley, said Neves Valente and Loureiro attended the same academic program in Portugal between 1995 and 2000.”

School records show both men studied at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon during the 1990s.

Investigators now believe Loureiro was specifically targeted, a law enforcement official told CNN. Authorities do not believe the two people killed at Brown were direct targets, and the motive behind the university shooting remains under investigation.

Rental car provides critical breakthrough

A rented vehicle became a key thread connecting the crimes. Investigators believe Neves Valente rented a car in Boston before driving to Providence, where the vehicle was later spotted near the Brown campus around the time of the shooting.

A tip from a member of the public proved crucial. According to court documents, a Reddit user reported seeing a “grey Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental” near the scene of the Brown shooting. Police later interviewed the individual, identified only as John in court filings.

John told investigators he encountered a man inside a bathroom in the Barus and Holley building whose clothing appeared inappropriate for the cold weather. He later saw the same man outside near the Nissan.

Once the man left the building, John said he watched him approach the vehicle, unlock it with a key fob, and then abruptly walk away. The man repeatedly circled the area and changed direction whenever he saw John, according to the affidavit.

At one point, John confronted him.

“The man responded by asking, ‘Why are you harassing me?’” the document said.

The encounter ended shortly before the shooting occurred.

Movements after the Brown shooting

Within 24 hours of the Brown attack, investigators believe Neves Valente returned to Massachusetts. Prosecutors said he switched the vehicle’s license plates, attaching an unregistered Maine plate, before killing Loureiro at his Brookline home on Monday.

“There was security footage that captured him within a half mile of the professor’s residence in Brookline, and there is video footage of him entering an apartment building in the location of the professor’s apartment,” Foley said.

About an hour after the professor was shot, surveillance footage showed Neves Valente entering a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, wearing the same clothes seen in the video following the shooting, Foley added.

Untraceable movements delayed identification

Investigators said the suspect took steps to avoid detection. He is believed to have used an untraceable phone, avoided credit cards in his own name, and relied on European SIM cards, which complicated efforts to track him in real time.

The FBI had been monitoring a rental car return location at Logan Airport in Boston on Thursday after learning the person who rented the vehicle was booked on an outbound flight. Law enforcement teams were also deployed in Florida as part of the search.

The investigation pivoted later that day when a license plate reader flagged an abandoned car near the New Hampshire storage facility. Authorities converged on the site and found Neves Valente dead inside.

When his body was recovered, investigators also found a satchel and two firearms, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said.

Questions remain unanswered

While law enforcement agencies now believe they have identified the gunman in both cases, major questions remain unresolved. Investigators are still trying to determine why Neves Valente returned to a university he attended more than two decades ago and why he allegedly targeted a former classmate nearly 30 years after their time together in Portugal.

Authorities say the investigation is ongoing as they continue to examine motive, planning, and whether there were additional intended targets.