PROVIDENCE, R.I. — After six days of heartbreak and anxiety for the Brown University and Providence communities, investigators say a key witness helped them identify and track down the suspect in the deadly campus shooting and the fatal shooting of prominent MIT professor Nuno Loureiro.
Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez confirmed that the breakthrough came when a person who encountered the suspect before the shooting came forward. Police had released photos of that individual on Wednesday, asking for the public’s help.
The witness, Known only as “John” in a Providence police affidavit, spoke briefly with the suspect — later identified as Claudio Neves Valente, a 58-year-old Portuguese national found dead at a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, on Thursday night— and questioned why he was on Brown’s campus. Valente fled the scene shortly after the exchange, according to investigators.
The affidavit says John gave investigators additional critical details: he encountered Neves Valente in the bathroom of the engineering building just hours before the attack, where John noted the suspect’s clothing was “inappropriate and inadequate for the weather.”
John also bumped into Neves Valente outside, mere blocks from the building, where John watched Neves Valente “suddenly” turn around from the Nissan when he saw John. What ensued was then a “game of cat and mouse,” according to John’s testimony — where the two would encounter each other, and Neves Valente would run away.
At one point, John says he yelled out, “Your car is back there, why are you circling the block?”
“The Suspect responded, ‘I don’t know you from nobody,’ then Suspect repeatedly asked, ’Why are you harassing me?’” according to the affidavit.
John told police he eventually saw Neves Valente approach the Nissan sedan once more and decided to walk away.
That tip led detectives to Valente’s vehicle, which was confirmed through Flock safety cameras.
“Which led us to a car rental place in Massachusetts,” Chief Perez said. “Through that, the agents and their work as well were able to get us footage of this individual, as well as a copy of the agreement, which provided his real name. The video of that subject matched the description of that person of interest that this police department was desperate to put handcuffs on.”
Police say Valente’s rental car matched the vehicle sought in the investigation. Detectives later learned Valente’s last known address was in Miami, Florida.
He had previously been a Ph.D. student at Brown from 2000 to 2001 and spent significant time in the Barus and Holley building on campus.
Authorities are still working to determine a motive for the shooting, which has shaken both Brown University and MIT communities.
“Respectfully, I have said all I have to say on the matter to the right people,” John wrote on Reddit Wednesday night.
“It’s unknown whether John will receive the $50,000 reward the FBI had offered for information about the Brown shooting.
Associated Press reporting was included in this article.
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