Claudio Neves Valente, the suspect in last week’s mass shooting at Brown University, has been found dead inside a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, bringing a six-day, multi-state manhunt to an end.
Law enforcement officials confirmed to the BBC that Valente, 48, was discovered with a satchel and two firearms inside the storage unit on Thursday, December 18.
Initial findings indicate he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators have not said how long Valente may have been inside the unit before his body was located. Evidence recovered from a nearby vehicle was matched to the Brown University shooting scene in Providence, Rhode Island.
Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said the breakthrough came after investigators followed video evidence and public tips, which led them to a car-rental location. From there, authorities identified Valente by name and confirmed he was the individual they had been seeking.
FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Ted Docks said roughly 500 agents were deployed across multiple states to assist local and state authorities during the search.
Valente, a Portuguese national, previously studied at Brown University roughly 25 years ago. Brown President Christina Paxson said he was enrolled from the fall of 2000 through the spring of 2001 while pursuing a PhD in physics and had no current affiliation with the university.
Authorities now believe Valente was also responsible for the fatal shooting of an MIT professor two days after the Brown attack, per WPRI. Officials said Valente allegedly shot and killed Nuno F. Gomes Loureiro, a 47-year-old professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Investigators noted that both Valente and Loureiro had studied at the same university in Portugal during the late 1990s.
The connection between the two cases was established through surveillance footage and witness accounts. Police said the exact vehicle linked to the Brown University shooting was later spotted near the scene of the MIT professor’s killing.
Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said Valente used a phone that made tracking difficult, describing him as “sophisticated in hiding his tracks.” No motive has been released for either attack.
The Brown University shooting occurred on December 13, when a gunman entered the Barus & Holley engineering building during final exams and opened fire. Two students were killed, and nine others were injured.
Authorities identified the victims as Ella Cook, 19, a sophomore from Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, an Uzbek American freshman. Six of the injured students remain hospitalized.
In the days following the attack, investigators faced mounting public pressure as leads appeared limited. Police released surveillance footage of a masked person of interest walking near campus, and the FBI announced a $50,000 reward for information.
Officials initially said there was no known connection between the Brown shooting and the MIT killing, a position that later changed as new evidence emerged.
Despite Valente being found dead, officials emphasized the investigation is ongoing. “Even though the suspect was found dead tonight, our work is not done,” Docks said.