The man accused of carrying out a deadly mass shooting at Brown University last weekend has been found dead, bringing an end to a multi-day manhunt that spanned three US states and later uncovered a second fatal shooting involving a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor.
Law enforcement officials confirmed that the suspect, identified as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national and former graduate student at Brown University, died by suicide inside a rented storage facility in New Hampshire. Authorities said Valente acted alone and had managed to evade capture for several days by using deliberate concealment tactics. Investigators have linked Valente to two separate and deadly incidents. The first occurred on Saturday at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where gunfire erupted inside the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building. The building is closely associated with Valente’s academic history during his time at the university.
According to officials, the shooting claimed the lives of two students and left at least eight others injured. Witnesses described scenes of panic as shots rang out during what appeared to be a routine academic setting. Campus security and local police responded swiftly, placing the university under lockdown while emergency medical teams treated the wounded. As the manhunt expanded, authorities discovered that Valente was also responsible for a second fatal shooting at a private residence in Massachusetts. In that incident, a prominent MIT professor was shot and killed. Investigators believe the two attacks were connected, though the nature of the relationship between Valente and the MIT victim has not yet been publicly disclosed.
Police agencies across Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire coordinated efforts to track the suspect, tracing his movements through surveillance footage, vehicle records and digital evidence.