In a shocking series of events that rocked two prestigious Ivy League institutions, authorities have confirmed that Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national and former Brown University graduate student, was responsible for a mass shooting on the Brown campus and the targeted killing of an MIT professor just days later. Valente, who took his own life in a New Hampshire storage unit on December 18, 2025, left behind a trail of devastation that claimed three lives and injured nine others.

The nightmare began on December 13, 2025, when Valente entered the Barus & Holley engineering building at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, during final exam week. Armed with a 9mm pistol, he opened fire in a classroom, killing two students—18-year-old freshman Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and 19-year-old Ella Cook—and wounding nine more. Survivors described chaos as shots rang out, with students hiding under desks or barricading doors. Valente fled the scene, evading an intense manhunt that involved hundreds of FBI agents and local law enforcement.

Just two days later, on December 15, Valente struck again approximately 50 miles away in Brookline, Massachusetts. He fatally shot Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a 47-year-old renowned MIT professor of nuclear science and engineering, at his home. Loureiro, also originally from Portugal, was gunned down in what appeared to be a deliberate attack. Surveillance footage placed Valente’s rented gray Nissan near the professor’s residence, and digital evidence linked his phone to the area.

Investigators connected the crimes through meticulous tracking: a rental car seen near Brown was the same vehicle spotted in Brookline, complete with matching clothing and accessories. Valente had rented a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, in November, where he ultimately ended his life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His body was discovered alongside firearms and evidence tying him to both scenes.

Valente’s background added layers of intrigue. He enrolled in Brown’s physics PhD program in 2000 but withdrew after less than a year. Remarkably, he and Loureiro had attended the same academic program in Portugal decades earlier, suggesting a possible personal connection. Valente entered the U.S. on a student visa and later gained permanent residency.

While the attacks sent shockwaves through academic communities, authorities emphasized that Valente acted alone. The Brown shooting occurred in a building where he had spent time as a student, but no evidence suggests the campus victims were targeted individually. The manhunt’s breakthrough came from public tips and surveillance, leading to Valente’s identification just before his death.

Though the immediate threat ended with Valente’s suicide, questions linger about prevention and gun access in America. This incident marked another tragic chapter in U.S. campus violence, highlighting vulnerabilities even at elite universities. Communities at Brown and MIT continue to mourn, with memorials honoring the victims’ bright futures cut short.