Brown University Shooter Found Dead In Storage Unit

The suspect in the December 13 shooting at Brown University was found dead inside a storage unit at an Extra Space Storage facility located at 10 Hampshire Road in Salem, New Hampshire, following a five-day, multi-state search involving local, state and federal authorities. 

The shooting occurred inside the Barus & Holley engineering building on Brown’s Providence, Rhode Island, campus during final exam review sessions. Two students were killed and nine others were injured. 

Authorities identified a vehicle of interest connected to the case and tracked it across Rhode Island, Massachusetts and into New Hampshire. Investigators determined the suspect had rented a storage unit at the Salem facility, where police secured the property and conducted a search on Thursday, Dec. 18. 

Inside the unit, officers found the suspect deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. No other injuries were reported at the scene.

Officials have now publicly identified the suspect as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a Portuguese national and former Brown University physics graduate student who briefly attended the school in 2000–2001.

Law enforcement has linked Valente to a second fatal shooting on Dec. 15 in Brookline, Massachusetts, in which Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro was killed at his home.

Authorities believe Valente and Loureiro had a prior academic connection from Portugal.

Investigators recovered two firearms and other evidence tying Valente to both crime scenes. His motive remains under investigation. 

• The two Brown University students killed were identified as Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov.
• Authorities credit public tips, including a social media-linked eyewitness, with helping narrow the search.
• Federal officials say there is no indication of accomplices and no known recent criminal history for Valente. 

This story has been updated as additional information was uncovered.

Sources:

CBS News

WMUR New Hampshire
Reuters