The man linked to last week’s deadly shooting at Brown University has been found dead, bringing an abrupt end to a six-day search that stretched across multiple US states.
Police confirmed the discovery was made inside a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire.
Authorities identified the suspect as 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, a Portuguese national who previously studied at Brown University more than two decades ago.
Investigators say he had no current connection to the Ivy League institution, where he was enrolled briefly between 2000 and 2001 as a physics PhD student, as reported by the BBC.
The breakthrough in the investigation came after video footage and information provided by the public led police to a car-rental outlet. There, officers were able to link Valente’s name to a vehicle connected to the shooting, confirming him as their primary suspect.
Law enforcement officials believe the case extends beyond the Brown University attack. Valente is also suspected of killing Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F Gomes Loureiro (47) at his home in Brookline two days after the Brown shooting.
Police said evidence recovered from a nearby vehicle matched material found at the Brown crime scene. When Valente’s body was discovered, he was in possession of a satchel and two firearms.
Early findings indicate that Valente died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, although investigators have not confirmed how long he had been inside the storage unit.
FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Ted Docks said that despite the suspect’s death, the investigation remains active, with many unanswered questions. The FBI deployed around 500 agents to assist local authorities during the search.
The two cases were linked through CCTV footage and witness accounts that placed the same vehicle near both crime scenes.
Prosecutors also revealed that Valente used a phone designed to conceal tracking, describing his efforts to avoid detection as highly sophisticated. No motive has been established for either attack.
The shooting at Brown University unfolded during final exams when a gunman entered the Barus & Holley engineering building and opened fire. Two students were killed and nine others injured, six of whom remain in hospital. The victims were identified as 19-year-old Ella Cook from Alabama and 18-year-old Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an Uzbek-American first-year student.
As the manhunt continued over several days, public frustration grew over the lack of visible progress.
Police later released footage of a masked person of interest on campus, while the FBI offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Authorities have now confirmed the suspect’s death, but say the full picture of events is still being pieced together.
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