What We Know About Claudio Neves Valente and How Reddit Unmasked the Brown Shooter

Authorities in Rhode Island have identified the alleged gunman in the Brown University shooting incident as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente. Police found the suspect after a crucial tip from a Reddit user.

Valente was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire on 18 December, five days after the tragedy that left two students dead and nine others injured. He was also the primary suspect in the fatal shooting of a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

'Why Brown? That is a Mystery'

Providence Rhode Island Police Chief Oscar Perez told reporters Thursday that Valente died by suicide. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha admitted that the reason for the attack is completely unknown. 'Why Brown? I think that is a mystery,' said Neronha. 'I don't think we have any idea why now, or why Brown, or why these students, why this classroom. That is really unknown to us.'

Valente, a Portugues national whose last known address was in Miami, Florida, had been a physics PhD student at Brown University. He withdrew from the program in 2003, according to university president Christina Paxson. He had no known criminal history.

As for the MIT professor, FBI Boston field office special agent Ted Docks said that Valente and the victim may have attended the same university in Portugal.

The Reddit Tip

Following the shooting, there was little information available for the authorities. The investigation had stalled until a tip from a Reddit user 'blew this case right open.'

The anonymous post on a Providence subforum urged police to look into a specific vehicle. 'I'm being dead serious. The police need to look into a grey Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental. That was the car he was driving,' the post read. The user described an encounter with a man matching the suspect's description.

The user shared that they saw the person approaching the car, using a key fob to unlock it, then 'something prompted him to back away' before locking the car again. The poster related that they found it unusual while also noting the Florida licence plate of the car, which was parked behind the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Authorities Interrogate Key Witness

Following the tip, investigators reviewed other footage and spotted the Nissan vehicle. This led them to identify a key witness, 'John,' who had a chilling encounter with the suspect.

John would later approach the authorities to agree to be interviewed on 17 December. The witness shared that they first saw the suspect on 13 December in the bathroom of the Barus and Holley building, where the shooting would later take place. John pointed out how he found it unusual for the suspect to wear clothes that were not appropriate for the current weather.

John and the suspect locked eyes for a moment, and he would later follow the latter out, describing their subsequent encounters on the same day as 'a game of'cat and mouse.'

A Brown University faculty member also recalled seeing the suspected vehicle driving at an unusually slow pace on 11 December. Surveillance cameras in the area also caught the same Nissan vehicle on 14 different occasions on 1 December.

The police were able to match the car to a vehicle rented in downtown Boston on 1 December by a driver who presented a Florida licence with the name Claudio Manuel Neves Valente. They would later connect Valente to the MIT professor's shooting and the hotels he allegedly stayed in prior.