What we covered here
• The suspect in the Brown University mass shooting was found dead last night – two days after taking his own life, according to the medical examiner. Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old former Brown University student and Portuguese national, was found at a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire.
• In an affidavit, investigators said a campus custodian’s observations and an anonymous Reddit post helped narrow the search for the suspect. He was “sophisticated in hiding his tracks” and is believed to have used an untraceable phone and avoided credit cards in his own name, said prosecutors.
• Neves Valente was also responsible for the killing of an MIT professor days after the Brown University attack, prosecutors said. He attended the same academic program as the professor in Portugal, between 1995 and 2000.
• The US will pause its diversity visa lottery program, said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, adding that Neves Valente entered the country via the program in 2017 and was granted a green card.
Our live coverage of the Brown University shooting investigation has ended for the day. Please scroll through the updates below for all of Thursday and Friday’s developments or read about what we know about the suspect and the timeline of how the events unfolded.
Suspected shooter swiped in at New Hampshire storage unit Monday, attorney general says
The suspected shooter Claudio Neves Valente swiped into his storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, on Monday and it appears he didn’t swipe out, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told CNN’s Erin Burnett.
At the time they got the warrant for the unit, they weren’t exactly sure he was but were following a couple different leads, he said. “Those leads turned out to not be valid, but that’s not unusual in a case like this,” he added.
The information he swiped into his storage unit Monday and died sometime Tuesday contradicts a line in an affidavit released by police yesterday. The affidavit says while a federal agent was at a Hartford, Connecticut, car rental agency Thursday, Valente called the agency location to change the drop-off location for his rental car.
“So then this call that the affidavits referring to on Thursday, to the rental car company, actually wasn’t from him,” Burnett asked. “It was something they thought might have been but it wasn’t, right?”
“That’s correct,” Neronha said.
Former classmate says suspected shooter was “sweet, nice and caring” but had bursts of anger
A former classmate of suspected shooter Claudio Neves Valente said he was generally a good friend but could get angry, which eventually led him to having to physically stop a fight.
Scott Watson, a professor at Syracuse University, described Valente as generally “sweet, nice and caring” but would occasionally have bursts of anger, he told CNN’s Erin Burnett. One example he shared was how Valente would repeatedly call a Brazilian classmate a slave.
“And once it peaked … they were going to punch each other,” he said. “I had to stand in the middle and separate them.”
Watson said he hasn’t spoken to Valente since 2003.
Valente was a smart guy who was bored in all of his classes, Watson said. “He was bored because he knew more than any of us. He already should have had a PhD.”
Valente “hated Brown and he hated Providence,” he added.
Watson recognized the MIT Professor Nuno Loureiro when the news of his death came out, saying he would sometimes come to Brown, but added he was unsure if Loureiro and Valente were friends.
Ballistics and DNA evidence connect suspect to both shootings, attorney general says
Ballistic evidence now shows shooting suspect Claudio Neves Valente is responsible for both the shooting at Brown University and the death of the MIT professor, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told CNN’s Erin Burnett.
DNA evidence also matches him to the Brown University shooting, he said.
The lab testing takes a bit of time, but authorities have “finalized those two pieces of evidence,” Neronha said.
The shell casings that were found at each of the crime scenes were not fired from the same gun, but both firearms were found with Valente in New Hampshire, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said in a news release later in the day.
This post has been updated with additional information.
"This is where he lived": Neighbor of suspected Brown shooter says he saw him 2-3 months ago
Claudio Neves Valente’s last known address was about 10 miles north of Miami. The yellow house with a red roof is in a working-class neighborhood that features large houses, mostly with fenced backyards and basements.
Some neighbors who talked with The Associated Press today said they had never seen Neves Valente. No police were in sight.
Edward Pol, a race car mechanic who lives across the street from the home, said the owner rents some rooms to people. He said he never talked to Neves Valente but had seen him several times, most recently two or three months ago.
He said the Portuguese man was always busy, standing outside and on phone calls. He realized the man was the suspect when he saw his pictures on the news this morning.
A man who answered the door through an intercom at the home said he was the homeowner but declined to identify himself or make any comment.
Former classmates of suspected shooter describe him as "brilliant" but arrogant and difficult
As investigators work to find a motive behind the mass shooting at Brown University and the slaying of an acclaimed MIT professor, former classmates of the accused killer described him as a brilliant but exceptionally difficult student.
Claudio Neves Valente, the 48-year-old suspect who police say was found dead yesterday, was a top student but a disruptive personality in his native Portugal, his classmates recalled.
Former classmate Felipe Moura said Neves Valente stood out, for good and bad reasons.
“Claudio was obviously one of the best, but in class he had a great need to stand out and show that he was better than the rest,” Moura wrote in Portuguese in a Facebook post.
Read more about what former classmates said about what Neves Valente was like.
Tech firm that helped police find Brown shooting suspect responds to alleged privacy concerns
Flock Safety, a safety technology company that works with local law enforcement agencies and private companies, drew renewed attention this week after Providence police said the company’s cameras helped locate the suspect in the Brown University shooting.
Investigators used Flock’s outdoor camera, referred to as “LPR” cameras, that can read license plates and identify other details about vehicles as they drive by. The company also turned on additional AI capabilities that were not part of Providence Police’s contract with the company to assist in the hunt, a company spokesperson told CNN, including a feature that can identify the same vehicle based on its description even if its license plates have been changed.
The Atlanta-based company, whose tools are used by about 6,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide, says the case underscores the role technology can play in helping police respond to violent crime. CEO Garrett Langley said in an X post the country “cannot tolerate tragedies” like those linked to Brown University and MIT.
However, the company has faced criticism from some privacy advocates and community groups who worry its networks of cameras are collecting too much personal information from private citizens and could be misused. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union have urged communities not to work with Flock.
Read more: Here’s a deeper look at CNN’s interview with Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley and his response to criticism from some privacy advocates and community groups.
Authorities spent frantic hours Thursday trying to track suspect
Authorities spent frantic hours on Thursday trying to track Claudio Neves Valente and the car they believed he was driving.
Police and federal agents believed he would be returning his rented car in Boston and boarding a flight out of Logan International Airport, according to a law enforcement official.
According to an affidavit filed by prosecutors, another Homeland Security agent, Michael Steinberg, was sent to the Alamo Rent a Car counter at the Bradley Field Airport in Hartford, Connecticut, to ask them to check the computer to see where the car would be returned.
While the agent was there, a man identifying himself as Neves Valente called into that branch and asked to return the rented Nissan Sentra to that location.
An autopsy conducted by the medical examiner in New Hampshire determined that Neves Valente, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, had been dead since around December 16, two days before that call.
Suspected shooter believed to have died by suicide on Tuesday, medical examiner says
Claudio Neves Valente, the suspected shooter in the Brown University investigation, is estimated to have died by suicide on December 16, the New Hampshire Department of Justice Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said in a news release after conducting an autopsy this morning.
“Based on the examination findings and investigative information available to date, Mr. Neves Valente is estimated to have died on December 16, 2025,” the news release said.
CNN has reached out to the FBI Boston office for clarification on whether this impacts their investigative timeline.
Investigators face steep challenges as motive remains unclear, law enforcement analyst says
The challenge for investigators now is piecing together a motive without being able to question the suspect, CNN law enforcement analyst and former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow said.
With the shooter deceased, law enforcement must rely on minimal digital evidence, search warrants and physical clues to understand what drove the attack, Wackrow said.
Wackrow emphasized investigations like this don’t happen in a vacuum. “Law enforcement does not operate in isolation,” he said, noting tips from the public, including information shared online, can provide critical clues.
Authorities have a clearer picture of intent and capability; from the suspect’s actions, Wackrow said, the intent was to cause harm — targeting people at Brown University and an MIT professor — with signs of premeditation, including access to weapons and a bulletproof vest.
He added that steps like changing license plates and concealing identity suggest the suspect may have been planning for an encounter with police or an escape. Still, Wackrow cautioned that motive remains the hardest question. Even after exhaustive searches of digital history and physical evidence, there is a chance investigators won’t find answers to what grievance, if any, fueled the attack.
“And how long did he have some sort of grievance or animus towards this professor and Brown University … we may never know the answer to this,” he said.
Support center established for Brown University shooting victims, FBI says
A support center for the victims of the Brown University shooting has been established on campus, the FBI said in a news release.
The Student Access and Support Center will provide “crisis intervention, financial aid, spiritual care, and counseling services,” among other things, the release said. The center was created through the collaboration of the university, the FBI, the Providence Police Department and other agencies.
“The FBI had almost 30 victim specialists, special agents, and analysts from all over the country who deployed to Providence, Rhode Island, to support our partners in meeting the provision of services to the victims, survivors, and their loved ones,” the agency said in the news release.
Brown and MIT shooting suspect "was very strategic" in his plans, Providence police chief says
Nearly a day after the suspect in the Brown University shooting was found dead after he took his own life, Providence Police Chief Oscar L. Perez Jr. tells CNN the shooter’s motive is still unknown.
Authorities are still processing the scene in Salem, New Hampshire, where the suspect, Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old former Brown University student and Portuguese national, was found, Perez said.
Authorities had the suspect’s name on Wednesday evening, but still have not been able to find any of his relatives, Perez said.
And while so much remains a mystery, Perez said Neves Valente had both Providence, Rhode Island, and Miami addresses and traveled domestically to Boston and Florida, adding he was “extremely familiar with Brown University,” living in close proximity to the Barus and Holley Engineering Department, where the shooting occurred.
Neves Valente took a number of evasive measures to dodge detection, like avoiding certain license plate readers throughout the city.
Two 9 mm Glocks, a bulletproof vest and a jacket recovered at Salem storage facility, source says
Several pieces of evidence were found in two storage units that Brown University shooting suspect Claudio Neves Valente rented at the Salem, New Hampshire, storage facility where he was found dead, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said.
Pursuant to a search warrant, investigators recovered two 9 mm Glocks, one with a green laser device, as well as high capacity magazines and a bulletproof vest, the official said. They also found the jacket that was seen in videos and photos released by police earlier this week, according to the official.
Investigators believe, based on events, that Neves Valente was alive and moving up until some time on Thursday, the official added.
Portuguese police are cooperating with US authorities on investigation, department says
The Polícia Judiciária, Portugal’s judicial police department, is helping US authorities in the investigations of Saturday’s deadly Brown University shooting and Monday’s killing of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro, the agency said in an online release.
The department was contacted yesterday, it said, and is “providing collaboration and support” since the suspect, 48-year-old Portuguese national and former Brown University student Claudio Neves Valente, became a subject of interest to law enforcement.
Site of Brown shooting had only 2 exterior surveillance cameras, affidavit says
Brown University’s Barus and Holley building, where Saturday’s shooting took place, is equipped with only two exterior cameras but has multiple entrances and exits, according to the suspect’s criminal affidavit.
In addition, interior cameras do not cover the room where the shooting took place or the surrounding hallways, the affidavit says.
Brown’s system of surveillance cameras has come under scrutiny this past week, including from President Donald Trump, after the shooting suspect was able to flee the scene. The most helpful surveillance videos of the suspect came not from the university but from cameras positioned at nearby homes.
Brown University has an “expansive network of security cameras,” with more than 1,200 cameras around its campus, a university spokesman has said. But the shooting took place at the edge of campus in an older part of the Barus and Holley building that has “fewer, if any” cameras, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said Tuesday.
Read more: Here’s a deeper look at Brown’s surveillance camera system, why its cameras failed to capture the attack or suspect, and the concerns about privacy and academic freedom that are the biggest resistance to their growing use.
What to know about the diversity visa program targeted after the Brown shooting
The State Department runs the diversity visa program, which is designed for individuals in countries that are determined by a formula to have a low enough level of immigration to the US.
Those who arrive to the US under the program are also eligible for green cards.
The issuance of those green cards is handled by the Department of Homeland Security.
As a result, the bulk of the program falls under the State Department, which would presumably be charged with pausing the program.
It’s unclear what direction Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem could provide, aside from pausing the issuance of green cards for those in the program.
CNN reached out to DHS and the State Department for comment.
What we know about the suspect’s immigration status and history
The suspect in the Brown University mass shooting who’s also accused of killing an MIT professor was a former student at Brown and a Portuguese national.
Claudio Neves Valente, 48, studied at Brown around 2000-2001 on an F1 visa, according to federal prosecutor Leah Foley. An F1 is a non-immigrant visa for international students to study full-time.
He also entered the US through a diversity lottery immigrant visa program in 2017 and was granted a green card, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on X Thursday night.
Details about Neves Valente’s whereabouts between 2001 and 2017 weren’t immediately available.
After Neves Valente was identified as the suspect in both shootings, Noem ordered the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the diversity lottery immigrant visa program.
The bulk of the program falls under the State Department, which would presumably be charged with pausing the program. It’s unclear what direction Noem could provide, aside from pausing the issuance of green cards for those in the program.
Under the program, up to 55,000 immigrants can enter the US each year from countries with low rates of immigration to the US, the State Department’s website says.
Neves Valente did not appear to have any prior criminal record in the US, Foley said. His body was found at a New Hampshire storage facility Thursday night after he took his own life, authorities said.
This post was updated with additional information.
Brown and MIT shooting suspect studied at same time as one of the victims, former university confirms
Claudio Neves Valente, the named suspect in Saturday’s Brown University shooting, was enrolled in the same undergraduate degree program and university in Portugal at the same time as the MIT professor he’s suspected of killing on Monday, the Portuguese school, Instituto Superior Técnico, confirmed.
IST, colloquially known as just Técnico, said Neves Valente “was a student at Técnico, studying for a degree in Technological Physics Engineering between 1995 and 2000” — at the same time as the victim, Nuno Loureiro.
Loureiro earned a degree in Technological Physics Engineering from Técnico, and was a researcher at the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion, where he led the Theory and Modeling group, the university said, adding it deeply regretted the news of his death.
IST also expressed its “deepest respect for the pain of Nuno Loureiro’s family and friends, without commenting on ongoing police investigations and matters of justice.”
MIT issues statement expressing gratitude to those who tracked down suspect in professor’s killing
“We are grateful,” the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said in a release Friday morning, thanking all who played a role in identifying and tracking down the suspect in Monday’s killing of Nuno Loureiro, a professor of nuclear science and engineering and of physics at MIT.
“Our community continues to mourn and remember Nuno — an incredible scientist, colleague, mentor, and friend,” the university said. “Our thoughts are also with the Brown University community, which suffered so much loss this week.”
“As the authorities work to answer remaining questions, our continuing position is to refer to the law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Attorney of Massachusetts for information. For now, our focus is on our community, on Nuno’s family, and all those who knew him,” MIT said.
Here's what Providence's mayor told us about the tipster who narrowed down the search for the shooting suspect
The tipster who authored an anonymous post on the Providence Reddit board, pointing investigators to the suspect’s vehicle, is the same individual seen in the photo released by Providence Police two days ago as they sought to talk to the man they believed to have been “in proximity” to the suspect, according to Mayor Brett Smiley.
The tipster is a graduate of Brown University, but little else is known about him at this point, Smiley said, adding that the man was “critical” to the case.
“Certainly, everybody in Providence owes this individual a debt of gratitude,” the mayor told CNN’s Kate Bolduan on “CNN News Central.”
“It was really a critical turning point, and this was an individual who stepped up and stepped forward for all the right reasons, probably with legitimate fear for what that might mean for his safety, but he did it for all the right reasons,” the mayor said. “So on behalf of the city of Providence, we are grateful to this guy.”
