Law enforcement authorities identified Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old former Brown University graduate student, as the suspect in a deadly shooting at Brown University that killed two students and injured nine others, as well as the murder of an MIT professor.
Valente died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on December 18, 2025, in a rented storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. The incidents, spanning Rhode Island and Massachusetts, prompted a widespread search that concluded without further violence.
Police discovered Valente's body inside the storage facility after tracking his vehicle from surveillance footage. The Brown University attack occurred on December 13 during an economics review session. Authorities linked the crimes through video evidence and vehicle records.
The shooting at Brown University took place in a first-floor auditorium on campus in Providence, Rhode Island. Gunfire killed 19-year-old Ella Cook and 18-year-old MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, according to Providence police reports. Nine others suffered wounds ranging from minor to serious.
Two days later, on December 15, Nuno FG Loureiro, an MIT professor, was found shot dead in his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Surveillance footage showed Valente's vehicle leaving the Brown scene and arriving near Loureiro's residence about an hour before the murder, investigators said.
Law enforcement launched a multi-state manhunt immediately after the Brown incident. The FBI assisted with vehicle tracking and executed a search warrant at the New Hampshire storage facility. Officers found Valente dead alongside a satchel containing two firearms in an adjacent unit.
Providence Police Chief Michael J. Sullivan stated, "This individual is no longer a threat to our community, and we can now focus on healing and supporting those affected." Brown University President Christina Paxson echoed this in a campus message, saying, "Our hearts remain with the families of Ella and MukhammadAziz, and all those impacted by this tragedy."
Valente, originally from Portugal, enroled as a graduate student at Brown University approximately 25 years ago but did not complete his degree, according to university records cited by investigators. Little public information emerged about his activities since leaving the institution.
