A man who is suspected of killing two students and wounding several others at Brown University in the US has been found dead, officials said.

Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a Brown student and Portuguese national, was found dead on Thursday evening, local time, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Colonel Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, said at a news conference.

The man was found dead on Thursday evening, local time, in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, about 30 kilometres north of Boston.

Investigators believe the man is responsible for both the shooting at Brown and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was fatally shot in his Brookline home on Monday, an official said. 

On Monday, MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, 47, was fatally shot in his home in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts, some 80km north of Brown’s campus.

Authorities have not formally confirmed a connection between the two shootings.

In a press briefing on Thursday, police identified the suspect as a 48-year-old Portuguese man.

One Department of Justice official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the suspected shooter had killed himself.

Manhunt leaves students, residents ‘restless’

The manhunt since Saturday’s shooting has left students and residents of Providence, Rhode Island, “restless and eager” for an arrest, Mayor Brett Smiley said.

An FBI official had said this week that the authorities did not believe there was a link between Saturday’s shooting at Brown and the MIT professor’s murder. 

FBI releases footage of university shooting suspect

Police say the footage shows the suspect “casing” the area around the campus before the attack. 

Mr Loureiro was a member of the departments of nuclear science and engineering and physics, as well as MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center.

Investigators in Providence said the suspect in the Brown University shooting escaped on foot into nearby streets, prompting a search that relied heavily on residential security footage because of a lack of surveillance cameras in the classroom building and the surrounding area.

Police released images and video of a masked man believed to be the shooter, based on survivor accounts, and have repeatedly asked for the public’s help in identifying him. 

The footage showed the suspect walking in a nearby neighbourhood both before and immediately after the attack, including moments when police vehicles arrived with flashing lights.

“He could be anywhere,” Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said on Wednesday, adding that authorities did not initially know the suspect’s identity or motive.

Police also circulated photos of another unidentified man seen near the area, saying they wanted to speak with him as a potential witness who may have relevant information.

Authorities initially announced a person was in custody a day after the shooting, but later released that individual after determining he was not involved.

AP/Reuters