The homeless hero who police credited for cracking the Brown University shooting and connecting it to the murder of an MIT professor is being \u201ctaken care of\u201d by the feds, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n
The tipster, whose real name has not been made public and who has been referred to only as \u201cJohn,\u201d was reportedly living in the basement of a University engineering building before he encountered mass shooter Claudio Neves Valente \u2014 and warned authorities<\/a> about his bizarre interaction with the attacker, helping them crack the case. <\/p>\n John could be in line for a $50,000 award, but for now he\u2019s off the streets, a source confirmed.<\/p>\n John had an odd interaction with Valente, which ultimately cracked the case. Providence Police via REUTERS<\/p>\n \u201cHe is being taken care of at the federal level \u2026 in a hotel, being fed,\u201d the source said. <\/p>\n \u201cHe is the reason they caught the guy,\u201d a homeless man who goes by \u201cFrank\u201d and said he knows the tipster, told The Post.<\/p>\n Frank spoke at the church service at Burnside Park in downtown Providence Saturday. \u2018<\/p>\n \u201cThey should be\u2026taking care of him,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cI hope he gets that money.\u201d<\/p>\n Providence mayor Brett Smiley urged FBI Director Kash Patel to give John the entirety of the $50,000 reward that had been promised to help crack the Brown case.<\/p>\n FBI released this photo of the encounter hoping it would lead to a break in the case. FBI<\/p>\n \u201cJohn is no less than a hero. His bravery, selflessness and stewardship on behalf of his community went far beyond what anyone could ever hope from a tip,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that our community is breathing easier today because of the extraordinary assistance John provided to our law enforcement agencies. I am writing to you today to request that the entirety of the $50,000 reward be issued to this incredible Providence neighbor,\u201d the mayor said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis went far beyond what you\u2019d expect from a normal tipster,\u201d said Josh Estrella, director of communications for Smiley. <\/p>\n John has been hailed as a hero for blowing the case right open. Providence Police<\/p>\n \u201cWe received hundreds of tips and out of all of them, John\u2019s was far and above the one that helped the most in solving this case.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Until John\u2019s tip came through, investigators had been scrambling to ID the gunman who killed two Brown students and then\u00a0gunned down a Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/a>\u00a0professor just two days later.<\/p>\n \u201cHe blew this case right open,\u201d Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said at a Thursday evening press conference as he praised the tipster.<\/p>\n Valente had been scoping the engineering building and the Brown University area for weeks before the shooting. FBI<\/p>\n His encounter first came to light when he started posting on Reddit that he recognized the images of the perp that had been blasted out by authorities in the wake of Saturday\u2019s bloodshed.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m being dead serious,\u201d his Reddit post said. \u201cThe police need to look into a grey Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental. That was the car he was driving.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe used his key fob to open the car, approached it and then something prompted him to back away. When he backed away, he relocked the car. I found that odd so when he circled the block, I approached the car and that is when I saw the Florida plates,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n For days after the Brown shooting, law enforcement was no closer to catching the suspect. AP<\/p>\n