The suspect in a shooting at Brown University that resulted in two deaths and nine injuries has been found dead. Authorities confirmed that Claudio Neves Valente, 48, committed suicide on Thursday night at a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire. Valente is also believed to be responsible for the death of an MIT professor at his home in the Boston area. The US Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire stated that the same individual committed both crimes, and that there is no longer a threat to the public.
The suspect was discovered with a bag, two firearms, and evidence in his car that matched the scene in Providence, where the Brown University shooting occurred. A key breakthrough in locating Valente came when an individual with information approached Providence police officers, leading authorities to a vehicle. This information helped identify Valente and connect him to the rental car, which matched the suspect's clothing and satchel seen at the Brown University shooting. Valente had attempted to evade law enforcement by changing the license plates on his vehicle.
Brown University President Christina Paxson confirmed that Valente had been a graduate student in physics at Brown from fall 2000 to spring 2001, taking a leave of absence in April 2001 and formally withdrawing in 2003. He had no current affiliation with the university. The FBI indicated that the suspect may have attended the same university in Lisbon as the MIT professor. The two students killed in the Brown University shooting were identified as Ella Cook, a sophomore, and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, a first-year student.