BOSTON — United States Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley revealed chilling new information about the man behind two deadly attacks in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
In a one-on-one interview with Boston 25’s Bob Ward, Foley called Claudio Neves Valente a “cold-blooded killer.” She also revealed that even though the manhunt has come to an end, the investigation is far from over.
Valente is accused of attacking Brown University on Saturday, Dec. 13, killing two students and injuring nine others in a mass shooting, before fatally shooting MIT nuclear physics professor Nuno Loureiro at his Brookline home on the night of Monday, Dec. 15.
Authorities say Valente was found dead Thursday night in a rented storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, from an apparent suicide. Inside the unit, investigators discovered:
- Two 9mm Glock handguns
- Hundreds of rounds of ammunition
- Receipts from a New Hampshire shooting range dated from November
Foley told Ward that the evidence points to a carefully planned attack.
“This was very premeditated. He had a plan, and he did not want that plan to fail,” Foley said.
Investigators believe Valente drove a rented Nissan to Brookline days after the Brown University shooting.
Wearing a reflective vest, he rang Loureiro’s doorbell. When the professor answered with his 12-year-old child nearby, Valente allegedly shot him point-blank in the face, then fled to New Hampshire and killed himself, according to Foley.
Authorities have video of Valente entering the storage unit around 9:45 p.m. Monday. He was never seen alive again.
In an update late Friday afternoon, the New Hampshire Department of Justice Office of the Chief Medical Examiner announced Valente died from a gunshot wound to the hand and ruled his death a suicide. Officials also estimated that he had been dead since Dec. 16.
Foley confirmed that Valente didn’t leave a note or manifesto behind and noted that the attacks don’t appear to be terror-related.
“There is absolutely no evidence to suggest or indicate this was an act of Islamic terrorism,” Foley said. “We have not seen any evidence that this was antisemitic.”
Foley also explained to Ward that there is “no indication a foreign government was involved.”
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