Category: Fatal shootings
Suspect in deadly Brown University shooting and fatal shooting of MIT professor found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wound
The suspect in the fatal shootings at Brown University last weekend and of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor just days later was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Thursday night in Salem, New Hampshire, officials said.
The body of Claudio Neves Valente, 48 — a former Brown student and a Portuguese national — was found in a storage facility, WCVB-TV reported.
‘We don’t know why now, why Brown, why these students, and why this classroom.’
Earlier Thursday multiple reports indicated a person of interest had been identified in the Brown shooting, which took the lives of two students and wounded nine others Saturday at the Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island. Authorities also were investigating possible ties between the Brown shooting and the fatal shooting Monday of MIT professor Nuno Loureiro at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Providence police released several images and videos of a person of interest in the days following the deadly Brown shooting with no apparent luck.
RELATED: Person of interest ID’d in deadly Brown U. shooting; warrant issued: Multiple reports
Image source: Providence (R.I.) Police
But police told WCVB a witness provided investigators with a key tip: He saw someone who looked like the person of interest with a Nissan sedan displaying Florida plates.
That bit of information led Providence police to dive into a network of more than 70 street cameras operated around the city by surveillance company Flock Safety, the station said, adding that those cameras track license plates and other vehicle details.
Providence officials said the suspect then placed a Maine license plate over the rental car’s plate to help conceal his identity after he left Rhode Island for Massachusetts, WCVB reported.
The station said in a separate story that surveillance video from MIT professor Loureiro’s Brookline neighborhood allegedly shows the gunman there days before the deadly shooting, according to Leah B. Foley, United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.
Investigators said video from inside Loureiro’s apartment shows Neves Valente wearing a specific set of clothes before shooting the professor in the lobby Monday, WCVB reported.
A neighbor said in a WBZ-TV video report that the fatal shooting of Loureiro was a “surprise … and a shooting in a state where it’s so hard to even have a gun?” The neighbor also said fellow neighbors noted a nearby car was “parked in the wrong direction” and “seemed to be waiting.”
Hours after the Loureiro shooting, Foley said surveillance video from a storage unit facility in Salem, New Hampshire, shows the gunman wearing the same clothes seen on the Brookline cameras, the station added. Neves Valente was found dead inside the storage facility Thursday night.
Brown University President Christina Paxson said Neves Valente was enrolled at the college from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001, the station said, adding that he was admitted to the graduate school to study physics beginning in September 2000. Paxson said he had “no current affiliation with the university,” WCVB reported.
Neves Valente had studied at Brown on a student visa and obtained legal permanent residence status in September 2017, the station said, adding that his last known residence was in Miami.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told WCVB there are “a lot of unknowns” in regard to motive: “We don’t know why now, why Brown, why these students, and why this classroom.”
Foley said Neves Valente and Loureiro were former classmates at an academic program in Portugal between 1995 and 2000, the station noted.
Loureiro graduated in 2000 from the physics program at Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal’s premier engineering school, WCVB reported, citing his MIT faculty page.
Neves Valente in 2000 was let go from a position at the Lisbon university, the station said, citing an archive of a termination notice from the school’s then-president in February 2000.
More from WCVB:
Loureiro, 47, who was married, joined MIT in 2016 and was named last year to lead the school’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, where he worked to advance clean energy technology and other research. The center, one of MIT’s largest labs, had more than 250 people working across seven buildings when he took the helm. He was a professor of physics and nuclear science and engineering.
Prior to the discovery of Neves Valente’s body, police in Providence said the DNA of the Brown University suspected shooter had been gathered, and images and video of the person of interest matched eyewitness descriptions.
A person of interest was initially detained last weekend before law enforcement determined they had the wrong individual.
The Brown University students who were killed and wounded Saturday were studying for a final in a first-floor classroom in an older section of the engineering building when the shooter walked in and opened fire, WCVB said.
Sophomore Ella Cook, 19, and freshman Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, were killed in the shooting, the station said.
Cook, whose funeral is Monday, was active in her Alabama church and served as vice president of the Brown College Republicans, WCVB said, adding that Umurzokov’s family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan when he was a child and that he wanted to be a doctor.
The station added in regard to the wounded students, six were in stable condition Thursday, and the other three had been discharged.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Person of interest ID’d in deadly Brown U. shooting; warrant issued: Multiple reports
A person of interest has been identified in connection with the deadly Brown University shooting Saturday, a warrant has been issued, and authorities are investigating possible ties between the Brown shooting and the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor days later, according to multiple reports.
The New York Times — citing a law enforcement official briefed on the matter who wasn’t authorized to speak about the investigation — reported Thursday that authorities have identified a person of interest in the Brown shooting and are investigating a possible connection with the MIT professor’s fatal shooting.
‘A shooting in a state where it’s so hard to even have a gun?’
Both CBS News and the Associated Press reported similarly to the Times; both CBS News and Fox News reported that a warrant has been issued.
The Times reported that the official said investigators are searching for the individual as well as a car that the person is believed to have rented — and that authorities believe the rented vehicle is the same make and model of a car identified in connection with the shooting of the MIT professor, the official said.
Authorities have not publicly identified a suspect in either case, the Times also said.
Blaze News reported that MIT professor Nuno Loureiro was fatally shot in his Brookline, Massachusetts, home Monday night and died in a hospital early Tuesday.
Brookline — a Boston suburb that’s less than a half hour from MIT — is about 90 minutes northeast of Providence, Rhode Island, where Brown University is located.
The FBI had told the AP it knew of no connection between the deadly shooting at Brown and the fatal shooting of Loureiro. However, WPRI-TV reported that multiple people familiar with the investigation said they discovered evidence showing the two crimes may be linked.
WBZ-TV said in its video report that Loureiro, 47, was shot several times in the foyer of his home; a neighbor said he lived in a first-floor apartment.
A reporter suggested to the neighbor on camera that the crime is atypical for Brookline, and the neighbor replied that it was a “surprise … and a shooting in a state where it’s so hard to even have a gun?” The neighbor also said fellow neighbors noted a nearby car was “parked in the wrong direction” and “seemed to be waiting.”
The Jerusalem Post reported that Loureiro was Jewish and a vocal pro-Israel nuclear scientist. However, the Post added that it could not confirm speculations by Jewish organizations that Loureiro was targeted for his political affiliations.
Blaze News earlier Thursday reported that Providence police said the Brown University suspected shooter’s DNA had been gathered and that images and video of a person of interest match eyewitness descriptions.
A person of interest was initially detained over the weekend before law enforcement determined they had the wrong guy.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Chicago violence: Almost 20 shot — 3 fatally — over weekend, police say
Nearly 20 people were shot — three of them fatally — in Chicago over the weekend, police told WBBM-TV.
The station said the shooting victims’ ages range from 18 to 70.
A woman of an unknown age was found unresponsive in an alley behind the 11000 block of South Mackinaw Avenue at 10:18 a.m., WBBM said. She had been shot twice in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene, the station said.
Police reported only one shooting on Friday. It took place just before 6:30 p.m. in the 5500 block of South Lafayette Avenue where police said an unknown person shot a 43-year-old woman on the street multiple times, WBBM noted. The woman was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, the station said.
The shootings ramped up on Saturday, as police said a dozen people were hit by gunfire — two of them fatally, the station said.
In one of the fatal shootings, police told WBBM that individuals in a red Dodge Charger were traveling westbound in the 4400 block of West Augusta Boulevard just before 5:30 a.m. when they were struck by gunfire, after which the vehicle crashed. The driver, a 37-year-old man, was shot in the back while his 29-year-old male passenger was shot multiple times in the head, the station said. Both victims were taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital where the 29-year-old was in critical condition — but the 37-year-old, later identified as Mauro Josemartin, was pronounced dead, WBBM said.
Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune
In the other fatal shooting, a 23-year-old man was in a vehicle in the 4100 block of West Jackson Boulevard at 3:10 p.m. when he was hit in the chest by gunfire, the station said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital of Cook County where he was pronounced dead, WBBM noted.
On Sunday, six people were shot, one of them fatally, the station said. In the fatal shooting, a woman of an unknown age was found unresponsive in an alley behind the 11000 block of South Mackinaw Avenue at 10:18 a.m., WBBM said. She had been shot twice in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene, the station said.
Among the nonfatal shootings, four unknown gunmen approached a 43-year-old man in the 1500 block of East 75th Street just before 4 p.m. Saturday and opened fire at him, WBBM said. The man was hit in the ankle area and taken to a hospital in good condition, the station said.
On Sunday, two men — ages 18 and 19 — were in a business in the 100 block of East 51st Street just before 6 a.m. when a man came up and shot them both, WBBM said. The 18-year-old was shot in the upper right leg and transported himself to Provident Hospital of Cook County, the station said, adding that the 19-year-old was shot in the left calf and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center; both were in fair condition. Police told WBBM that the shooter was wearing a gray jumpsuit and fled east on foot.
Also on Sunday, police told the station that multiple people exited a dark-colored SUV outside a business in the 800 block of East 79th Street around 10:45 a.m. and shot two men, ages 66 and 70. The 66-year-old was hit in the right wrist, chest, and groin, police told WBBM, adding that the 70-year-old was hit once in the buttocks. Both victims were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center where the 66-year-old was reported in critical condition, and the 70-year-old was in fair condition.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
