The suspect in last week’s Brown University shooting that left two students dead and nine others wounded- was found dead on Thursday, December 18th. Authorities identified the suspect as 48 year-old, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente. Valente, a former Brown graduate student, reportedly took his own life in a New Hampshire storage unit where officials later found his body.
According to a custodian at Brown, Neves Valente was spotted walking around the campus just weeks before the attack. He was seen wearing a surgical mask, and the same clothing shown in released images from November 28th and December 1st. Additionally, the custodian explained that Neves Valente had entered and spent a lot of time in the Barus & Holley Building. This was a key piece of evidence in the investigation as this was the same building the shooting had occurred weeks later.
When officials further investigated Neves Valente Brown University records, it was discovered that he was enrolled only in physics classes which have always been held in Barus & Holley Building, where the mass shooting took place. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said that Neves Valente was enrolled in a doctoral program at Brown but withdrew from the university. Brown University President, Christina Paxson, noted that he was enrolled from fall 2000 to spring 2001 and took a leave of absence in April 2001, and formally left the university in July 2003. There is no reasoning as to why he had taken a leave of absence and withdrew from the university.
During the investigation of the crime scene, The Justice Department discovered recordings from the shooter explaining that he was planning the attack. He did not provide a motive for targeting Brown or the MIT professor, with whom he attended school in Portugal decades ago. He said he felt he had nothing to apologize for. He also complained in the videos about injuring his eye in the shootings.
