Alleged gunman in Brown University shooting found dead

by · UPI

Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The suspected gunman who killed two students at Brown University and an MIT professor at their apartment last week is dead, authorities said Thursday night, bringing an end to a nearly week-long manhunt that had the Rhode Island city of Providence on alert.

The suspect, identified as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, was found dead from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound in a Salem, N.H., storage unit, the office of Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said in a statement.

Police have been hunting for him since the Saturday shooting at Brown University that left two people dead and inured nine. As the investigation was ongoing, an MIT professor was fatally shot at his home on Monday -- a crime that authorities said earlier Thursday may be linked to the Brown University shooting.

"Tonight, our Providence neighbors can finally breathe a little easier," Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told reporters during a press conference announcing the development in the case that has gripped much of the nation.

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"I know this has been hard on all of us. Over the past five days, minutes have felt like hours but the people of Providence have done what we're best at. We've leaned on one another, come together and supported one another and showed the nation what a tight-knit community looks like."

Authorities located Valente through a rental car that tied him to the shooting. A court-authorized search warrant for the storage unit was executed shortly before 9 p.m. EST Thursday, law enforcement said.

He was found dead with a satchel that contained two firearms. Evidence discovered in the vehicle he was driving also matched "exactly what we see at the scene here in Providence," Neronha said.

Chief of Providence Police Oscar Perez said video of the vehicle, corroborated by a tip they received, led them to a Massachusetts car rental dealership where surveillance video matched the description of the suspect they were looking for, and the rental agreement gave them a name.

Neronha explained that within 24 hours of the shooting, police released an image of a person authorities were hoping to speak with. That person then contacted authorities and the information they had "blew this case right open."

"That person led us to the car, which led us to the name, which led us to the photographs of that individual renting the car, which matched the clothing of our shooter here in Providence, that matched the satchel," he said.

Neronha also announced a district judge on Thursday signed an arrest warrant in connection with the shooting.

"There won't be a prosecution now, of course," he said.

Valente is believed to have been the gunman who opened fire late Saturday afternoon in an auditorium at Brown University where students were studying, killing students Muhammad Aziz Umurzakov, 18, of Uzbekistan and Ella Cook, 19, of Birmingham, Ala., and injuring nine others before fleeing the scene.

The suspect's last known address was in Las Vegas. Brown University President Christina Paxson said Valente was admitted to its graduate school to study in the master of science Ph.D. program in physics, beginning on Sept. 1, 2000, but took a leave of absence in April the next year and formally withdrew effective July 31, 2003.

She said based on his studies that "it is safe to assume that this man" had spent a great deal of time in the Barus & Holley Engineering and Physics Building on the Brown campus where the shooting occurred.

Following the Providence press conference, authorities in Massachusetts announced that Valente was wanted for the shooting death of MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureir, who was found suffering apparent gunshot wounds inside his home on Gibbs street in Brookline, Mass., after the shooting was reported at 9 p.m. EST on Monday.

He was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dad Tuesday morning.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Leah Foley told reporters in the second press conference that Valente had attended the same academic program as Loureir in Portugal between 1995 and 2000.

Though Valente, who had obtained permanent residency status, had a permanent residence in Las Vegas, from Nov. 26 and Nov. 30, he rented a hotel room in Boston.

On Dec. 1, Valente rented a vehicle from a car rental agency in Boston, which he drove later that day to Brown University, where the vehicle was seen "intermittently" until the day before the shooting, she said.

Following the shooting, Valente returned to Boston, where he killed Loureir on Monday, according to Foley, who said he then drove to the Salem, N.H., storage facility, where he had rented a unit in November and where he was found dead Thursday night.

Foley explained that the rental car and security footage had linked him with both crimes.

"Law enforcement collectively believe that ... we have identified the person and that person is dead and that he was person responsible not only for the Brown shootings but the Brookline shooting," she said.