Man suspected in Brown University shooting and MIT professor’s killing is found dead, officials say

A frantic search for the suspect in last weekend’s mass shooting at Brown University ended at a New Hampshire storage facility where authorities discovered the man dead inside and then revealed he also was suspected of killing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.

Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a former Brown student and Portuguese national, was found dead Thursday night from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief.

Investigators believe he is responsible for fatally shooting two students and wounding nine other people in a Brown lecture hall last Saturday, then killing MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro two days later at his home in the Boston suburbs, nearly 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Providence. Perez said as far as investigators know, Neves Valente acted alone.

Brown University President Christina Paxson said Neves Valente was enrolled there as a graduate student studying physics from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001.

“He has no current affiliation with the university,” she said.

Neves Valente and Loureiro previously attended the same academic program at a university in Portugal between 1995 and 2000, U.S. attorney for Massachusetts Leah B. Foley said. Loureiro graduated from the physics program at Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal’s premier engineering school, in 2000, according to his MIT faculty page. The same year, Neves Valente was let go from a position at the Lisbon university, according to an archive of a termination notice from the school’s then-president in February 2000.

Neves Valente had come to Brown on a student visa. He eventually obtained legal permanent residence status in September 2017, Foley said. It was not immediately clear where he was between taking a leave of absence from the school in 2001 and getting the visa in 2017. His last known residence was in Miami.

After officials revealed the suspect's identity, President Donald Trump suspended the green card lottery program that allowed Neves Valente to stay in the United States.

There are still “a lot of unknowns” in regard to motive, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. “We don’t know why now, why Brown, why these students and why this classroom,” he said.

The FBI previously said it knew of no links between the Rhode Island and Massachusetts shootings.

Police credited a person who had several encounters with Neves Valente for providing a crucial tip that led authorities to him.

After police shared security video of a person of interest, the witness — known only as “John” in a Providence police affidavit — recognized him and posted his suspicions on the social media forum Reddit. Reddit users urged him to tell the FBI, and John said he did.

John said he had encountered Neves Valente hours earlier in the bathroom of the engineering building where the shooting occurred and noticed he was wearing inappropriate clothing for the weather, according to the affidavit. He again bumped into Neves Valente a couple blocks away and saw him suddenly turn away from a Nissan sedan when he saw John.

“When you do crack it, you crack it. And that person led us to the car, which led us to the name,” Neronha said.

His tip pointed investigators to a Nissan Sentra with Florida plates. That enabled Providence police to tap into a network of more than 70 street cameras operated around the city by surveillance company Flock Safety. Those cameras track license plates and other vehicle details.

After leaving Rhode Island, Providence officials said Neves Valente stuck a Maine license plate over his rental car’s plate to help conceal his identity.

Investigators found footage of Neves Valente entering an apartment building near Loureiro's in a Boston suburb. About an hour later, Neves Valente was seen entering the Salem, New Hampshire, storage facility where he was found dead, Foley said. He had with him a satchel and two firearms, Neronha said.

Loureiro, a 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist, had joined MIT in 2016 and was named last year to lead the school’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, one of its largest laboratories. The scientist from Viseu, Portugal, had been working to explain the physics behind astronomical phenomena such as solar flares.

The two Brown students killed during a study session for final exams were 19-year-old sophomore Ella Cook and 18-year-old freshman Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov. Cook was active in her Alabama church and served as vice president of the Brown College Republicans. Umurzokov’s family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan when he was a child, and he aspired to be a doctor.

As for the wounded, three had been discharged and six were in stable condition Thursday, officials said.

Although Brown officials say there are 1,200 cameras on campus, the attack happened in an older part of the engineering building that has few, if any, cameras. And investigators believe the shooter entered and left through a door that faces a residential street bordering campus, which might explain why the cameras Brown does have didn’t capture footage of the person.

Associated Press reporters Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu, Hallie Golden in Seattle and Matt O'Brien in Providence contributed.

A woman lights a candle at a memorial set up in front of the Barus and Holley engineering building at Brown University in Providence, RI, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/ Mark Stockwell)

Law enforcement officers search the area for the Brown University shooting suspect, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Salem, N.H. (AP Photo/Reba Saldanha)

FILE - People hold candles during a vigil in Providence, R.I., for those injured or killed in the previous day's shooting on the campus of Brown University, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

Law enforcement officers are seen outside a storage facility where a suspect in the shooting at Brown University was found dead, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Salem, N.H. (AP Photo/Reba Saldanha)

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Travis Head took off his helmet and gloves, dropped to his knees and planted a kiss on the pitch after posting a century in a fourth consecutive test on his home ground at the Adelaide Oval.

It was trademark “Travball" on Day 3 of the third Ashes cricket test.

The freewheeling Australia batter had a huge reprieve on 99 when he slashed at a Jofra Archer delivery and was dropped by Harry Brook at gully. That was after he fended a Joe Root tweaker and took off for a quick single, only to be sent back by batting partner Alex Carey.

Head faced eight balls without scoring while on 99, then went for broke and advanced down the pitch and drove the ball back over Root’s head to the long-on boundary to move to 103.

It was his 11th century in 63 tests, and second in five innings since being promoted from No. 5 to open the innings in Perth. That's where his match-winning innings sealed Australia's eight-wicket win to open the series.

By stumps Friday, Head was unbeaten on 142 and his unbroken partnership with fellow South Australian Carey (52) was 122. Australia was 271-4, with a lead of 356.

Head said his new-look celebration of the century was designed to get a laugh out of his teammates.

“I got the rise out of the dressing room that I expected," he said in comments published by Fox Sports. He added, more seriously, that his hometown "wicket has looked after me over the last few years.

"I didn’t think I’d get one, so to get four (centuries at the Adelaide Oval) is not too bad. I felt alright.”

Brook took two excellent catches in the slips to remove Marnus Labuschagne (13) and Cameron Green (7) off Josh Tongue's bowling, but the one he missed against Head was costly.

The Australians went in to bat after dismissing England for 286 just before lunch, after Ben Stokes and Archer helped cut the first-innings margin to 85 with a record 106-run ninth-wicket stand.

Stokes walked off the field yelling at himself and shaking his head after being bowled for 83 by Mitchell Starc, bringing an end to a defiant, 198-ball innings that dragged his team back into the contest.

After losing the first two tests in Perth and Brisbane and allowing Australia to post 371 in the first innings here, England's chances of keeping the five-test series alive seemed remote when Stokes went to the crease on Day 2 with the total at 71-4.

With England on the verge of collapsing at 168-8, Stokes joined forces with No. 10 Archer to bat out the evening session. The pair resumed Friday with England at 213 for eight, still 158 behind.

Australia wanted to clean up the last two wickets quickly but Stokes and Archer, who took a five-wicket haul when England was bowling, dug in.

Stokes stepped down the wicket to Scott Boland for a driven boundary to bring up the 50 partnership off 89 balls, then raised his half-century with a single off 159 deliveries. It was his slowest 50 in test cricket — his 37th — but vital for his team.

Not long after, Archer took a single off Cummins to reach his first test half-century off 97 balls, bringing England's deficit under 100.

But the innings ended relatively quickly after left-armer Starc bowled Stokes with a delivery from over the wicket that angled back. The Stokes-Archer partnership was the highest ever for the ninth wicket for England at Adelaide.

All that time in the sun had an impact on England's bowling attack, though. Archer, who took five wickets in the first innings, took 0-15 in 10 overs on Friday. Stokes, England's highest wicket-taker this year, didn't bowl and had to leave the field for a short while in the evening session.

England is capable of tracking down a big target in the fourth innings, chasing 370-plus against India twice in the last three years, so Bazball won't be completely dispensed with despite Stokes' stoic first innings.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

Australia's Travis Head celebrates after scoring century during play on day three of the third Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)

Australia's Travis Head kisses the pitch after scoring a century during play on day three of the third Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)

Australia's Travis Head reacts after scoring 50 runs during play on day three of the third Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)

Australia's Marnus Labuschagne reacts while batting during play on day three of the third Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)

England's Brydon Carse, left, celebrates with Ben Stokes after dismissing Australia's Jake Weatherald, during play on day three of the third Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)

England's Jofra Archer plays a shot during play on day two of the third Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)

England batsmen Jofra Archer, right, and Ben Stokes talk during play on day three of the third Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)

England's Ben Stokes bats during play on day three of the third Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)