THE suspect in the Brown University killings had been dead for two days when police discovered his body inside a New Hampshire storage unit, bringing a nearly weeklong manhunt to an end.
MIT professor died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Tuesday.
Claudio Neves Valente turned his gun on himself on TuesdayCredit: AFP
Police discovered his body in a New Hampshire storage unit
, along with a satchel and two firearms.
An autopsy later confirmed his death was a suicide.
Further forensic testing proved one of the firearms recovered was the gun used in the shooting at Brown.
Valente was identified as the man who burst into a lecture hall at the Ivy League university on Saturday, brandishing a weapon.
in the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building on Brown University’s campus in Providence, Rhode Island.
Around 60 students were inside the lecture theatre when the suspect entered and opened fire at about 4 p.m.
Some students fled the room, while others dove for cover beneath chairs or shielded themselves behind desks.
Two people were killed in the attack, including sophomore Ella Cook, 19.
Cook, from Alabama, was the vice president of the university’s Republican club and had attended Brown since 2024.
The second victim was identified as Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, a first-year student from Uzbekistan.
Vigils have since been held on campus as family, friends, and classmates mourn the victims.
Valente attended Brown University more than two decades ago as a PhD student in physics, but dropped out after just three semesters in 2003.
Authorities said he had no current affiliation with the school.
Afterwards, Valente travelled roughly 50 miles and shot dead MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, 47, inside his home in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Brookline police responded to .
When officers arrived, Loureiro was found with multiple gunshot wounds
Despite efforts by doctors, he later died in hospital.
It later emerged .
Despite his apparent ties to both Brown University and the murdered MIT professor, authorities say Valente’s motive remains unknown.
“I don’t think we have any idea why now, or why Brown, or why these students, why this classroom,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said.
Neronha added witnesses reported Valente made strange “barking” noises as he entered the lecture hall and fired more than 40 rounds.
“There are some witnesses who said he said nothing,” Neronha said.
“There are some that say he made a barking noise.
“Don’t ask me. I don’t know why. And that’s it. There is no other spoken word beyond that, there we are aware of.”
Valente had reportedly rented the New Hampshire storage unit back in November, along with a grey Nissan bearing Florida license plates on 1 December.
The vehicle was spotted multiple times near Brown’s campus throughout the festive period.
After the attack, Valente is believed to have switched the license plates before travelling to Massachusetts.
Brown University is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the United States, with approximately 7,300 undergraduate students.
Ella Cook, 19, was one of two students killed in the attack
Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, was named as the second victimCredit: GoFundMe
The reasoning behind Valente’s attack is still unknown to investigators
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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