Suspect in Brown University shooting and MIT professor killing found dead in New Hampshire

A man suspected of carrying out a mass shooting at Brown University and killing an MIT professor has been found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in a storage facility in New Hampshire, US authorities said.

Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a former Brown University student and Portuguese national, was discovered Thursday evening inside a rented storage unit, Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez told reporters. Investigators believe Valente acted alone.

Police say Valente is responsible for the shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island on Saturday, which left two people dead and nine wounded, as well as the killing of 47-year-old MIT professor Nuno FG Loureiro, who was shot in his home near Boston on Monday.

The case took a dramatic turn on Thursday when investigators confirmed they were examining a link between the two attacks. Until then, the FBI had said there was no known connection between the shootings.

US Attorney for Massachusetts Leah B Foley said evidence increasingly points to Valente as the suspect in both cases. Surveillance footage showed him near Loureiro’s apartment building before the professor was killed, and later entering the New Hampshire storage facility where his body was found.

Brown University President Christina Paxson said Valente was enrolled at the university briefly from autumn 2000 to spring 2001 and had no current ties to the institution. Foley added that Valente and Loureiro had previously attended the same academic programme at a university in Portugal between 1995 and 2000.

Investigators traced a rental vehicle used by Valente in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Foley said the suspect switched licence plates, attaching a Maine plate over the rental car’s original registration in an apparent effort to evade detection.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said a second individual who came forward after Wednesday’s briefing provided key information that helped “blow the lid” off the case.

Despite the breakthroughs, major questions remain.

“There are still a lot of unknowns,” Neronha said. “We don’t know why now, why Brown, why these students and why this classroom.”