The individual identified by authorities as the perpetrator responsible for the deaths of two Brown University students and an MIT professor had documented his premeditation of the assault over six semesters, as revealed by the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday. Claudio Neves Valente, a former Brown student and Portuguese citizen, was discovered deceased in a New Hampshire storage facility following the incidents at the engineering building on Dec. 13, where he fatally shot two students and injured nine others. Two days later, he killed MIT Prof. Nuno F.G. Loureiro in Brookline, Massachusetts.
According to the Justice Department, a search of the storage unit where Neves Valente’s body was located led to the recovery of an electronic device containing a series of brief videos made by the perpetrator post the shootings. In these recordings, he confessed in Portuguese to having long-term plans for the Brown University shooting without specifying a motive for targeting Brown or the MIT professor, whom he had attended school with in Portugal years ago.
He expressed no remorse in the videos, stating his desire to depart on his own terms and mentioning his eye injury sustained during the attacks. Neves Valente emphasized that he felt no obligation to apologize, citing a lack of sincere apologies throughout his life. He highlighted his intention to control the outcome of his actions and avoid personal suffering.
In one of the recordings, Neves Valente mentioned his interaction with a witness at Brown University who eventually aided in his identification. The witness, who had prior encounters with the perpetrator, alerted the FBI to investigate a gray Nissan vehicle, leading to Neves Valente’s discovery. Before this revelation, authorities had not linked any vehicle to the shooting incident.
Neves Valente disclosed that the witness had observed his license plate, which prompted police inquiries into his involvement in the shootings. He expressed surprise at the time it took for law enforcement to locate him. The perpetrator indicated a neutral stance towards the United States, where he had arrived twenty-five years ago to pursue physics studies at Brown University before departing in 2001. Neves Valente, who held legal permanent resident status since 2017, had resided in Miami.
He reflected on his detachment from various locations he had lived in, including Portugal and the U.S., emphasizing his prolonged indifference towards his surroundings.