Salem: The suspect in the deadly shootings at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor died by suicide days before his body was discovered in a New Hampshire storage unit, authorities said Friday.
According to Anadolu Agency, New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella stated that an autopsy conducted by the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Investigators estimate that his death occurred on Tuesday, and his body was found two days later, on Thursday evening, inside a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire.
Providence police had publicly identified Neves Valente as the suspect in the December 13 shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island. This tragic event resulted in the deaths of two students, Ella Cook of Alabama and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov of Virginia, and injured nine others during a finals-week study session at the Barus and Holley Engineering Building.
Authorities later confirmed his responsibility for the December 15 fatal shooting of MIT nuclear science professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Federal investigators recovered two 9 mm pistols near Neves Valente's body. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' (ATF) Boston office reported that the ATF and FBI, working with the Connecticut State Police forensic laboratory, matched one weapon to the Brown shooting and the other to Loureiro's killing.
Brown University President Christina Paxson revealed that Neves Valente was a Portuguese national and a former Brown student who studied physics from 2000 to 2001 before withdrawing in 2003. Paxson noted that "it's safe to assume that this man, when he was a student, spent a great deal of time in that building for classes and other activities as a Ph.D. student in physics." She emphasized that he had no current active affiliation with the university or campus presence.
Authorities confirmed that Neves Valente acted alone in both attacks. Investigators continue to review his recent movements, including credit card activity, and have not found any writings or documents indicating a clear motive.