Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente responsible for Brown shooting, MIT professor’s murder, authorities say

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Police are crediting a homeless man who previously attended Brown University for "cracking the case wide open" and helping them locate the car belonging to the suspect in the shooting on campus.

Neves-Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, is accused of shooting nearly a dozen students — including two who died — at Brown University before allegedly fatally shooting Nuno F. G. Loureiro, a nuclear fusion scientist and professor at MIT, at Loureiro’s home in Brookline, Massachusetts.

According to an affidavit, police were alerted on Tuesday about a Reddit post with a description of the suspect's vehicle.

"I’m being dead serious," the Reddit post said. "The police need to look into a grey Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental."

"I know because he used his key fob to open the car, approached it and then something prompted him to back away," it added. "When he backed away, he relocked the car. I found that odd so when he circled the block, I approached the car that is when I saw the Florida plates."

A source told Fox News that police later identified the Reddit poster as a homeless man, who they said was extremely articulate and reliable. He told police he sleeps in the basement of the Barus and Holley building on campus. He said he observed the suspect in the basement area earlier in the day before the shooting and followed him out and had a strange encounter.

The affidavit says the man told police the two were playing a "cat and mouse game" and would walk past each other and slow down. At one point, the two were standing feet away from each other when the man asked the suspect, "Your car is back there, why are you circling the block?"

The man told police that he posted on Reddit after recognizing him as the "person of interest."

Using the tip, investigators reviewed surveillance footage and found a car matching the man's description. Police then used cameras widely used as license plate readers to identify the car. The Rhode Island Attorney General said he put a Maine license plate over the rental's Florida plate to throw off investigators. There were also several other matches from similar car descriptions captured on the cameras, making it a lengthy process.

Police were eventually led to the car rental company in Massachusetts, where they were able to obtain surveillance footage and the name of the suspect through a car rental agreement.

Authorities were then led to the abandoned car in Salem, New Hampshire, where Neves-Valente had rented a storage unit under his name. He was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot with two firearms nearby.

Fox News' Brooke Taylor contributed to this report.

The car belonging to Claudio Neves-Valente, the suspect in the Brown University shooting and the killing of an MIT professor, was seen being towed away on Thursday night.

The vehicle was towed away at 11:43 p.m. on Thursday.

Neves-Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, is accused of shooting nearly a dozen students — including two who died — at Brown University before allegedly fatally shooting Nuno F. G. Loureiro, a nuclear fusion scientist and professor at MIT, at Loureiro’s home in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, identified as a suspect in the Brown University shooting, seen at car dealership. (Credit: State of Rhode Island)

Claudio Neves-Valente, the suspect in the Brown University mass shooting and the killing of an MIT professor, was enrolled as a student studying physics from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001, according to Brown University President Christina Paxson.

Neves-Valente attended Brown for three semesters as a graduate student before formally withdrawing in July 2003, Paxson said in a statement, adding that he did not receive a degree from the university.

Paxson stated that Neves-Valente was admitted to the Sc.M-PhD program in physics and  likely would have taken courses and spent time in the Barus & Holley building, where the deadly shooting took place.

“While Brown remains committed to searching all institutional systems to identify any pertinent information to assist law enforcement, we have thus far found no indication of any concerns pertaining to conduct or any public safety interactions during the short time Neves Valente was enrolled as a graduate student at Brown,” Paxson stated. “As of yet, we have not identified any employee who recalls Neves Valente, nor is there any Brown record of recent contact between this individual and Brown.”

U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts

Federal prosecutors on Thursday released a photograph and complaint affidavit for Claudio Neves-Valente, the suspect in the Brown University shooting and the killing of an MIT professor, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

Neves-Valente, 48, is a Portuguese national accused of killing two people and wounding nine others on the campus of Brown University on Saturday.

He then allegedly fatally shot Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a nuclear fusion scientist and professor at MIT, at Loureiro's home in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Neves-Valente is also being investigated for allegedly transporting a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with the intent to commit a felony, which is a federal offense under a statute that makes it unlawful to move firearms across state lines with plans to use them to commit a felony, including violent crime, according to the affidavit.

Police officers tape off storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. Officials found a vehicle linked to the Brown University shooting suspect in the parking lot. (Credit: Fox News Digital / Michael Dorgan)

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha credited a witness with playing a critical role in helping law enforcement identify the suspect in the Brown University shooting, calling him “as outstanding a witness as I’ve seen.”

Neronha confirmed the individual was highly attentive to his surroundings and voluntarily came forward after realizing police were seeking his help.

“He came forward within an hour,” Neronha said, adding that the witness was “incredibly articulate."

The witness helped review surveillance video and provided information that assisted investigators as they searched for the suspect, Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, who was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Neronha said the man deserves “a tremendous amount of credit” for recognizing the seriousness of the situation and cooperating fully with law enforcement.

The attorney general declined to release the witness’s name but added, "I don't know whether he's going to get the reward or not."

Officials release images of Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, the Brown University shooting suspect, at an Alamo rental car center on November 17, 2025. (Credit: State of Rhode Island)

Providence Police said that the suspected Brown University shooter, Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, was identified because he used his real name when renting a vehicle later found abandoned in New Hampshire.

Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar L. Perez Jr. said investigators traced the vehicle through the rental company, which provided surveillance footage and a copy of the rental agreement listing Neves-Valente’s legal name.

“The video of that subject matched the description of the person of interest that this police department was desperate to put handcuffs on,” Perez said.

A photo of slain MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro. (MIT)

Police confirmed that Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, the Brown shooting suspect, went to school with Nuno F.G. Loureiro, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was shot and killed at his home in upscale Brookline, Massachusetts, in Portugal 25 years ago.

Police would not, however, confirm if Neves-Valente is suspected of killing Loureiro.

Fox News Digital's view from the ground where officials are investigating a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. A vehicle, believed to be connected to the Brown University shooting, was found in the parking lot on Thursday. (Credit: Fox News Digital / Michael Dorgan)

Police have surrounded a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, as authorities appear to be closing in on the Brown University shooting suspect.

Fox News Digital is on the ground as authorities have been seen going in and out of the facility.

Sources tell Fox News the suspect's car was found outside.

Authorities are poised to hold a press conference to give an update on the manhunt, but so far no word on when that might happen.

Fox News Digital's Michael Dorgan contributed to this reporting.

Law enforcement officers poisted to enter a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. A vehicle was found in the parking lot, believed to be linked to the Brown University shooting. (Credit: WBZ)

Video from the scene in Salem, New Hampshire showed officers entering a storage facility after the suspected shooter's car was found outside.

Sources tell Fox News authorities have not yet made contact with the suspect.

Fox News' Brooke Taylor contributed to this reporting.

Officials investigate vehicle in parking lot potentially connected to Brown University shooting. (Credit: WBZ)

Law enforcement officers are in Salem, New Hampshire, where the suspected shooter’s abandoned vehicle was located near a storage facility, sources tell Fox News.

Fox News' Brooke Taylor contributed to this reporting.

A Providence Police officer takes down crime scene tape across the street from Barus & Holley School at Brown University, the day after two people were killed and nine people were injured by a gunman on December 14, 2025. (Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Providence police had responded to only two homicides in all of 2025 prior to the Brown University shooting on Dec. 13.

The rarity of homicide investigations in the city provides context for the scale and complexity of the case now facing law enforcement.

Fox News' Brooke Taylor contributed to this reporting.

A makeshift memorial is seen on the Brown University campus near the scene of a shooting on Dec. 15, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP)

The manhunt for the Brown University shooting suspect may have crossed state lines into Salem, New Hampshire, according to Boston 25, citing its own law enforcement sources.

Fox News Digital was not immediately able to confirm.

A police vehicle rests at an intersection near crime scene tape at Brown University, on Dec. 14, 2025, in Providence, R.I., following a Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025 shooting at the university. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Providence police have located and interviewed the man seen on surveillance video near the unidentified suspect in the Brown University shooting, and investigators say he is not believed to be connected to the attack, according to reporting from WPRI.

Law enforcement sources told WPRI the man was captured on camera “in proximity” to the suspected gunman roughly two hours before the shooting.

According to WPRI's sources, the man told police he approached the suspect outside Brown University and questioned what he was doing there, which prompted him to flee.

Police do not believe the man played any role in the shooting.

After authorities publicly asked to speak with him, the man reportedly contacted police and was interviewed. His name has not been released.

Visitors pause at a makeshift memorial for the victims of Saturday's shooting, at the Van Wickle Gate at Brown University, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Providence, R.I.(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

All patients injured in the Dec. 13 mass shooting at Brown University are now either in stable condition or have been discharged, according to an update from Rhode Island Hospital.

As of 2:45 p.m. on December 18, Rhode Island Hospital confirmed it treated nine people with gunshot wounds related to the incident and six patients are in stable condition.Three patients have been discharged.

Hospital officials also said that one patient previously listed in critical condition has now stabilized.

Rhode Island Hospital said it continues to work closely with Brown University and is providing ongoing support to affected families.

FBI officials search an area of Providence, R.I., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

The Brown University gunman who remains at large after killing two students and wounding nine more is likely “extremely angry” and a “loner” who is afraid of getting caught, according to criminal profiler John Kelly. 

Kelly, who is also the president of STALK Inc., told Fox News Digital on Thursday why he believes the gunman canvassed the area before the shooting. 

“He took great pains to scope out the area and secure an escape route. Why? Because he’s scared of getting caught,” Kelly said. “So it looks like a cause he’s not willing to die for, but a cause he’s extremely angry over.” 

The shooter fired more than 40 rounds from a 9mm handgun into a classroom in the Barus and Holley engineering building around 4 p.m. on Saturday before fleeing on foot, officials have said. 

“I believe he’s probably a loner who expresses [his anger] in the confines of a private place online,” Kelly continued. “He’s watching everything he can about himself on the news. All these guys have a certain amount of paranoia, I believe this guy is no different. He wants to kill kids but he’s scared of doing the time for it.”

Fox News contributor Paul Mauro said sources told him that live ammunition was found at the shooting scene at Brown University, marking a positive sign for the investigation as police continue to search for the unidentified shooter.

“What I can tell you from my sources is that I think quite significantly, they have live rounds, that is, rounds that were not fired on detonated rounds,” Mauro said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday. “Why does that matter? Because shell casings have enclosed a detonation. That's how bullets work. Which means they often destroy evidence and they're scorched."

“In the case of live rounds, think about what happens there on a nine millimeter automatic,” Mauro continued. “The perpetrator has to fat finger those live rounds, bullets, into a magazine, which is the sleeve that holds them and that gets put into the handle of the gun. That's how a semi-automatic works.” 

Mauro said the evidence could be a “positive sign for the investigation” that has stretched into a sixth day Thursday. 

“Live rounds at the scene, I think, is a hopeful sign for getting usable DNA, even if he's not in the database,” Mauro said.

Interior view of Barus and Holley Room 166, the site where the shooting happened on the campus of Brown University in Providence, R.I. (Credit: Kenna Lee/The Brown Daily Herald)

The Providence police chief has confirmed investigators recovered physical evidence, including DNA, at the Brown University shooting scene that police are working to process.

When Fox News on Wednesday asked Col. Oscar Perez whether investigators were able to find live ammunition from the scene, the police chief said investigators were able to get physical evidence.

“Oh yeah, we seized a few physical evidence and we're in the process of examining that evidence,” Perez told Fox News. “And yes, we have some DNA that we manipulated and so it just progresses everyday.”

Perez added: “It progresses everyday with forensics, it progresses everyday with witness statements and so yeah, we're just trying to find out and we are going to do our best.”

A law enforcement official familiar with the case told The New York Times on condition of anonymity that DNA, along with fingerprints, came from shell casings from the shooting scene.

Fox News' Bryan Llenas and Fox News Digital's Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.

Home security camera seen on the Brown University's president's home. (Credit: Google Maps)

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told Fox News on Wednesday the city will "certainly be doing a review" of its cameras following a fatal shooting at Brown University on Saturday.

The unidentified gunman, who killed two Brown University students and wounded nine others, is still at large as the manhunt drags into a fifth day.

"We will certainly be doing a review to think about where we might need additional camera footage," Smiley said. "We do have a network of technology, including things like license plate readers, which are aiding in this investigation."

He added the local police department is sending officers out to speak to residents about obtaining their doorbell or home security camera footage.

"Many of the residences have cameras, which is partially one of the reasons why it's taking so long, because we have to go door to door, but also why we're continuing to generate good new video because we're looking through vehicles [like Teslas, which have] cameras," Smiley said.

Fox News' Bryan Llenas contributed to this report.