Police have identified former Brown University student Claudio Neves Valente as the gunman in both the fatal shooting at the Ivy League school and the murder of an MIT professor, while also confirming he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Valente, a Portuguese national, was found dead Thursday night following a nearly weeklong manhunt spurred by the shooting Saturday that killed two Brown students, Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez announced at a press conference.

The 48-year-old former graduate student was discovered dead with a satchel and two firearms inside a Salem, New Hampshire, storage facility, where authorities carried out a search warrant around 9 p.m.

An undated handout photo of Brown and MIT gunman Claudio Neves Valente, 48, who was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Dec. 18, 2025. via REUTERS

The suspect was previously spotted in a series of grainy images. FOX News

FBI Special Agent Ted Docks also revealed that Valente studied in Lisbon with murdered MIT nuclear science professor Nuno Loureiro, 47. The professor was killed on Monday in his $1.4 million townhouse in upscale Brookline, Massachusetts, and cops there announced late Thursday he was shot by Valente.

Loureiro was born and raised in Portugal and studied physics at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon.

The two studied together in the same academic program between 1995 and 2000, Leah Foley, the US attorney in Massachusetts, revealed in a second press conference late Thursday.

Valente was then enrolled at Brown University between 2000 and 2001 in a graduate physics program. He primarily took classes at the university’s Barus & Holley building — where he opened fire on students inside a classroom on Saturday, according to Brown University President Christina Paxson.

“It is safe to assume that this man, when he was a student, spent a lot of time in that building,” Paxson told reporters.

Valente studied in Libson with MIT nuclear science professor Nuno Lourerio, 47, whom he shot dead in his Brookline, Mass., home on Dec. 15, 2025. MIT

Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old former Physics student with a Miami address. Providence Police Dept

The gunman took a leave of absence from Brown University in April 2001 and formally withdrew from the Ivy League University in 2003. He came to the United States from Portugal on a student visa. Valente received lawful permanent residence status in September 2017, officials said.

On Saturday, the suspect entered the elite Providence university and opened fire in the Barus & Holley building, killing students Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old Uzbek American freshman. 

Nine others were wounded in the barrage of bullets, with six remaining in the hospital on Wednesday.

Authorities were finally able to crack the case open after a man posted on Reddit that cops should investigate a possible rented gray Nissan with Florida plates that he spotted in Providence while having an odd interaction with a man.

Timeline of Claudio Neves Valente’s believed trail.

Authorities swarmed a Salem, New Hampshire, warehouse to pursue the suspected shooter. WBZ

Cops later released still images of the person they believed to be the witness and possible Reddit poster — prompting him to come into the Providence police station and offer vital information on the shooter’s clothing, behavior, and car that helped them identify Valente.

At one point, as they encountered each other on the street, the man asked Valente, “Your car is back there, why are you circling the block?” according to an affidavit prepared for Valente’s arrest.

The suspect responded, “I don’t know you from nobody,” and then, “Why are you harassing me?”

Authorities learned Valente rented the gray Nissan in Boston and changed its license plates, which made it harder to track him down, Neronha added.

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The Portuguese gunman was then connected to the death of Professor Loureiro through the rental car and other movements, Foley said.

The top prosecutor said there was enough probable cause to charge Valente with the death of Loureiro and the shooting at Brown University. 

Security footage captured Valente within a half mile of Loureiro’s home. There is also video footage of him entering an apartment building near the location of the professor’s apartment, Foley said.

Foley believes Valente knew Loureiro from their time studying together, but was unable to provide further details on their relationship or if they had recently stayed in contact. 

Valente appeared to have shot Loureiro, then driven to a rented storage unit in New Hampshire about an hour later — where he was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Foley detailed. 

Students Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and Ella Cook were gunned down on the Brown campus in Providence, Rhode Island, on Dec. 13, 2025.
Gofundme; Linkedin/Ella Cook

FBI Evidence Response Team agents at the Extra Space Storage in Salem, New Hampshire on Dec. 18, 2025. Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock

Valente’s vehicle being towed away from the storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, after his body was discovered.
Kyle Mazza

Valente used a phone that masked his location and had credit cards that weren’t under his name, the prosecutor added. 

“He was sophisticated in hiding his tracks,” Foley said, noting that authorities have not yet determined a motive. 

Investigators probing the Brown case said they are still unsure what, or if, the gunman cried out a statement as he entered the Brown University classroom. Some students heard nothing, and others claimed they heard “barking,” said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha.

Cops released grainy video and stills from surveillance cameras in the area of the university, showing the doughy suspect walking on city sidewalks both before and after the mass shooting.

After the first video was released, 24-year-old Benjamin Erickson was taken into custody Sunday and questioned about the shooting, but was promptly let go, with authorities admitting they had nabbed the wrong guy.

Authorities said they did not know of Valente’s name until Wednesday, “that’s when this thing heated up. As soon as you have a name, I believe you can find anybody in this country,” Neronha said.