A reddit post was what caught the Brown University / MIT professor shooter.
I think Providence Police are in some hot water after this whole thing is wrapped up. https://t.co/SzPVCFKTZ1
— Nick🔎 (@NickProbes) December 19, 2025
The gunman who killed two students at Brown University was found dead in a storage unit as it was revealed his main target was an MIT professor he shot dead in Boston.
The suspect – 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente – was revealed to be a Portuguese national who studied at the Ivy League school in Rhode Island more than 20 years ago.
After being on the lam for days, his eventual demise stemmed from a Reddit post that flagged his suspicious activity outside the Providence campus.
‘Tonight our Providence neighbors can breathe a little easier,’ Mayor Brett Smiley said at a news conference Thursday night.
Neves Valente had attended Brown to pursue a masters of science in physics from 2000 to 2001, before he took a leave of absence and ultimately withdrew.
It remains unclear why Neves Valente opened fire at the Rhode Island school, killing Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, of Virginia, and 19-year-old Ella Cook, of Alabama.
But University President Christina Paxson said it was likely he took classes inside that building when he attended the school.
The development about the shooter’s fixation on MIT Professor Nuno Loureiro raised new questions about his motive for the slaying and the timeline of the shootings.
On December 13, Neves Valente opened fire during a study session at the Ivy League’s School of Engineering Barus and Holley Building.
Two days later, he fatally shot Loureiro inside his Boston home.