Police say the suspect in the Brown University mass shooting was found dead after a multi-state manhunt.
The suspect in last week’s mass shooting at Brown University has been found dead in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, following a six-day multi-state manhunt, police said.
Law enforcement officials, authorities identified the suspect as Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a Portuguese national who studied at Brown University in Providence about 25 years ago and had no current affiliation with the institution.
“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.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said Valente was discovered with a satchel and two firearms, while evidence found in a nearby vehicle matched the scene of the shooting at Brown University. Police said preliminary findings indicate he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and investigators could not immediately determine how long he had been inside the storage unit.
Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said video evidence and tips from the public helped investigators trace the suspect to a car rental linked to his name, which led authorities to focus on him as their primary person of interest.
Officials also said they believe Valente was responsible for the killing of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F. Gomes Loureiro, 47, who was found dead at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, two days after the Brown University shooting. Both men had studied at the same university in Portugal in the late 1990s, according to police.
Authorities said the two cases were linked after the suspect’s vehicle was identified through CCTV footage and witness accounts at Brown University, with the same car later spotted near the Brookline crime scene.
Leah B. Foley, the US Attorney for Massachusetts, said the suspect used methods to avoid detection. “He was sophisticated in hiding his tracks,” she said.
The shooting occurred inside Brown University’s Barus & Holley engineering building during final examinations, when a gunman opened fire. Two students were killed and nine others injured, with six still hospitalised.
The victims were identified as Ella Cook, 19, a sophomore from Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, an Uzbek-American freshman.
Brown University President Christina Paxson confirmed that Valente was enrolled at the Ivy League institution from autumn 2000 to spring 2001 as a PhD physics student but had no ongoing ties to the university.
Authorities said no motive has yet been established for either attack, and investigations remain ongoing.