It was Thursday morning when investigators definitively decided the identical individual opened hearth on a examine group at Brown College and, two days later, murdered an MIT professor — elevating fears amongst regulation enforcement officers that the killer might have had different supposed targets, based on the highest federal regulation enforcement official in Boston.
“We had no thought if he had successful checklist and these had been simply the primary two stops on his tour,” Leah Foley, the USA Lawyer for the District of Massachusetts, advised ABC Information on Friday.
U.S. Lawyer for the District of Massachusetts Leah Foley speaks with ABC Information, Dec. 19, 2025.
ABC Information
Foley mentioned that the suspect, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, was discovered useless within the New Hampshire storage unit with two 9mm Glock firearms geared up with inexperienced laser sights, 5 magazines with almost 200 rounds of ammunition and almost $900 in money. In his automotive, investigators mentioned they discovered extra ammunition and physique armor.
“This was extremely premeditated and he was positively geared up for the mission that he sought out to do,” Foley mentioned.
Claudio Neves Valente, suspect within the Brown College capturing in Windfall, on this undated handout picture launched, December 18, 2025.
U.S. Lawyer Massachusetts by way of Reuters
Neves Valente, 48, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police mentioned.
On Friday, an post-mortem was underway to find out how lengthy the suspect had been useless by the point his physique was discovered. Ballistics assessments and DNA assessments had been underway.
Investigators had been additionally looking out by means of the contents of three USB thumb drives discovered within the suspect’s automotive to see in the event that they contained clues a few motive. It’s unclear at the moment if the suspect had every other potential targets, based on individuals conversant in the investigation.
A gray Nissan automotive is parked at a storage facility, the place the Brown College shooter, recognized by authorities as Claudio Neves Valente, took his personal life, in Salem, New Hampshire, on this handout picture launched December 19, 2025.
FBI Boston by way of Reuters
Foley mentioned investigators consider Brown College and the MIT professor — Nuno F.G. Loureiro — had been intentional targets, however they have no idea why.
“I do not know that even when he had defined why, that that will be a solution that’s passable to anybody,” Foley mentioned. “He was evil.”
The chance that the killer may have struck once more infused the manhunt with new urgency. Federal brokers fanned out throughout 4 New England states and posted up at airports in Boston and Hartford.
Windfall Police Officers be a part of state and federal regulation enforcement brokers trying to find the Brown College shooter, in Salem, New Hampshire, U.S., December 18, 2025.
Cj Gunther/Reuters
“We had no thought if he was going to behave once more in New England or attempt to go away New England,” Foley mentioned.
Neves Valente had already switched license plates as soon as, based on authorities. Within the automotive, investigators mentioned they discovered one other expired plate.
The suspect was a former Brown graduate pupil who attended the college some 25 years in the past, faculty officers mentioned. He had enrolled as a Ph.D pupil in Brown’s physics program in 2000 and attended for lower than a yr, earlier than occurring a go away of absence after which withdrawing.
Neves Valente and Loureiro had been each Portuguese nationals and had attended the identical physics engineering program at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, the college confirmed to ABC Information.
