BREAKING: Authorities Identify Deceased Brown University Shooter as 48-Year-Old Portuguese National, Bringing Week of Chaos to a Close

After nearly a week of unanswered questions and growing public frustration, officials have now confirmed the identity of the Brown University shooting suspect — a 48-year-old Portuguese national and Brown student who was found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha announced Thursday evening that the suspect was located deceased only hours after an arrest warrant had been issued.

According to The Washington Post, the alleged killer, Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, fled the state following the deadly attack and was ultimately traced to an Extra Space Storage site in Salem, New Hampshire, roughly 80 miles from Providence, where the shooting took place. The discovery ended a tense five-day manhunt that had left the community shaken.

Neves-Valente was not a U.S. citizen — a detail that immediately raised questions about campus safety and vetting protocols at the Ivy League institution.

Thomas Greco, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ Boston Division, emphasized the profound disruption caused by the attack.
“Each individual in this country deserves to live in peace and security in their homes, in their schools, in their places of worship, and in the streets,” Greco said.
“The actions of Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente stole that right and terrorized a community.”

Investigators also linked Neves-Valente to the killing of Nuno Loureiro, a respected 47-year-old MIT nuclear fusion professor, who was found shot multiple times in his home just two days after the Brown attack.

Further reporting from Vanity Fair uncovered a past connection between the two men:
“According to records from Instituto Superior Técnico (I.S.T.), the preeminent Portuguese engineering school, a person named Claudio Neves-Valente was terminated from a monitor position in February of 2000, the same year that Loureiro graduated from I.S.T.”

The timeline of events has prompted serious criticism of both campus and federal authorities, especially in the chaotic hours after the Brown shooting. Police initially withheld basic details, declined to answer whether the suspect had shouted “Allahu Akbar,” and refused to confirm or deny early speculation involving pro-Palestinian activists on campus. One person of interest was detained, questioned, and eventually released after being cleared of involvement.

The initial attack occurred around 4 p.m. on Saturday, when a masked man dressed in black entered a student study session, shouted something witnesses said was unintelligible, and opened fire, killing two students.

Authorities insisted the Providence community was not at risk — even as, just two days later, Professor Loureiro was fatally shot in circumstances eerily resembling the campus murders. Only later did investigators publicly acknowledge the connection between the two cases.

The death of Neves-Valente ends a harrowing week, but it does little to resolve the deeper questions now facing academic institutions and law enforcement — particularly as President Donald J. Trump continues his administration’s push for stronger public-safety enforcement, secure borders, and accountability within federal agencies.