Brown University Shooter Found Dead with Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound
The suspect who left two students dead and nine others wounded following a shooting at Brown University was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire.
During a Thursday evening press conference, authorities announced that the suspect was identified by Perez as Claudio Neves-Valente, a 48-year-old former student at Brown University who was from Portugal and last lived in Miami, Florida, The Christian Post reported.
According to Brown President Christina Paxson, Valente studied physics at Brown from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001 before taking a leave of absence and ultimately dropping out of the school in 2003.
Valente carried out the shooting on Saturday, December 14, 2025, at the Barus & Holley building on the Brown University campus, Fox News reported. Two students, Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, were killed, while nine others were wounded.
During the press conference, Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez explained that authorities were able to locate a vehicle that belonged to a rental place in Massachusetts, which helped them locate the person of interest, who ultimately was identified as Valente.
According to CBS News, a Reddit user by the name of “John” provided crucial information identifying Valente and his rental car.
“I was parked in front of the little shack behind the Rhode Island Historical Society on the Cooke St side," he wrote on Reddit. "I know because he 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."
The FBI, which previously posted a $50,000 reward for information about the suspect, did not disclose whether “John” will receive the reward money.
The FBI "will not comment on whether reward money has been paid and to whom” in a statement to CBS News.
"The FBI takes this position for privacy protection, and to ensure the public's continued cooperation and incentivization with any future assistance," it said. "Receiving tips from the public remains one of the FBI's best tools in preventing, detecting, and deterring crime."
The bureau also maintained its longstanding policy on not disclosing the identities of individuals who have provided tips and additional information to the FBI.
The shooting has also been possibly linked to the murder of Nuno Loureiro, who taught plasma physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was also the head of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. Loueiro was shot while at home in Brookline, Massachusetts, and died at a local hospital the following day. Both Louerio and Valente studied physics at Brown and are believed to have known each other.
Related Article
Brown University Mass Shooting Kills 2 Students, Wounds 9 Others
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images Boston Globe / Contributor
Originally published December 19, 2025.
