Claudio Neves Valente, a former Brown University student and Portuguese national, was identified by law enforcement as the individual responsible for the tragic deaths of two Brown University students and an MIT professor. The U.S. Department of Justice disclosed that Valente had premeditated the attack for at least six semesters before carrying it out.
After fatally shooting two students and injuring nine others at an engineering building on December 13, Valente was later found deceased in a New Hampshire storage facility. Two days following the initial incident, he also took the life of MIT Prof. Nuno F.G. Loureiro in Brookline, a Boston suburb.
During the investigation at the storage facility where Valente’s body was discovered, the FBI recovered an electronic device containing a series of short videos recorded by Valente post-incident. In these recordings, Valente confessed in Portuguese to meticulously planning the shootings at Brown University without providing a clear motive for his actions or targeting the MIT professor.
Expressing no remorse, Valente stated his intention to “leave on his own terms,” emphasizing his dissatisfaction with sustaining an eye injury during the shootings. He justified his actions by claiming that no one had ever sincerely apologized to him and asserted his desire to avoid being the one to suffer the most repercussions from the events.
In the recordings, Valente revealed that he had possessed the storage unit for about three years and detailed an encounter with a witness at Brown University that eventually led to his identification by authorities. The witness, who had multiple interactions with Valente before the attack, provided crucial information to the FBI, prompting them to investigate a gray Nissan associated with the incident.
Valente also mentioned his indifferent feelings towards the United States, where he had arrived approximately 25 years ago to pursue a physics degree at Brown University. Despite obtaining legal permanent residency in 2017, his last known residence was in Miami. Valente expressed a sense of detachment towards various places he had lived, indicating a prolonged period of indifference.
The recordings shed light on Valente’s mindset and actions leading up to the tragic events, providing insight into the individual behind the violent acts.