Body of Portuguese Claudio Neves-Valente was located in a warehouse; student reportedly committed suicide after killing two students in Providence and a physicist in Boston
The man named as a suspect in the shooting attack that left two dead and nine injured at Brown University was found dead on Thursday (18), authorities announced. Authorities believe that the 48-year-old man, of Portuguese nationality and student at Brown, was also responsible for shooting, on Monday (15), a physicist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in his home in Boston.
Oscar Perez, chief of the Providence Police Department in the state of Rhode Island, said the suspect was identified as Claudio Neves-Valente. “He took his own life tonight,” he declared.
Neves-Valente’s body was found in a warehouse in the state of New Hampshire, next to two firearms. “Tonight, Providence residents can finally breathe a little easier,” said Mayor Brett Smiley.
Authorities have not commented on the motivations for the attacks, which affected two of the United States’ top universities. “The preliminary investigation that began in the city of Providence led us to this connection,” Perez said, without revealing further details.
Investigation and victims
The Brown shooting happened last Saturday, December 13, in a building where students were taking exams on the campus of the prestigious university in Providence.
Before Neves-Valente’s body was located, authorities had announced the identification of the suspect in the shooting.
The two murdered students were identified as Ella Cook, vice president of the Brown Republican Association, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, a native of Uzbekistan who aspired to become a neurosurgeon.
Smiley reported that one injured person is in critical but stable condition, five are in stable condition and two have already been discharged.
For several days, authorities presented few results from the investigation. One man was detained but released shortly afterwards. Police released images of a possible suspect and an individual who was near him in an effort to try to find the shooter.
Brown University is facing questions, including from the president, over campus security after it was revealed that none of its 1,200 security cameras were connected to the police surveillance system.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an event in which four or more people are injured by gunfire, more than 300 mass shootings have been recorded in the United States since the beginning of the year.
Federal authorities also indicated Neves-Valente’s possible responsibility in the shooting of Portuguese professor Nuno Loureiro, 47, who had taught Nuclear Science, Engineering and Physics at MIT since 2016.
The scientist was found with gunshot wounds on Monday night at his home, almost 80 kilometers from Providence. He was pronounced dead at the hospital the following morning.
*With information from AFP
Published by Nícolas Robert
