Suspect in Brown University shooting and MIT professor killing found dead

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Police in the U.S. state of Rhode Island on Thursday night identified the suspect in last week's mass shooting at Brown University and the killing of a professor two days later as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, who was found dead.

The suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire.

According to authorities, investigators tracked Valente through surveillance footage and a vehicle, which led them to a car rental company in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Police obtained a copy of the car rental agreement bearing the suspect's name, as well as video matching the appearance of the suspect on the Brown University campus on the day of the shooting.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Leah B. Foley said Thursday night that Valente was also responsible for the fatal shooting of Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics professor Nuno Loureiro at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, on Dec. 15.

"There is video footage of him entering an apartment building in the location of the professor's apartment," Foley said.

"It is believed that in Lisbon that those two individuals attended the same university in Portugal," Ted Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston field office, said at a news conference.

Brown University President Christina Paxson said Valente enrolled in a Brown graduate physics program in 2000 and withdrew less than a year later. He had no current affiliation with the school.

Paxson noted that most physics classes at Brown University have been held in the Barus &Holley building, which was the site of the shooting.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said Valente initially entered the United States on a student visa and was granted permanent resident status in 2017.

Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said Valente was a native of Portugal with a last known address in Miami.