(NewsNation) — The man suspected of the deadly Brown University shootings and the killing of an MIT professor has been identified as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, and police say he was found dead.
According to authorities, Neves Valente was responsible for the murders of two students during a shooting at Brown University on Saturday, Dec. 13, as well as the shooting death of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, Nuno F. Gomes Loureiro, 47, at his home near the campus Monday night
A motive is not known at this time. Leah B. Foley, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said there is “no doubt” Gomes Loureiro was the “intended target.”
Neves Valente, 48, was found dead at a rented storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, on Thursday, Chief of the Providence Police Department Col. Oscar Perez announced during a news briefing. A satchel and two firearms were among the evidence found at the facility.
The suspect was a former student at Brown University and a Portuguese national. Neves Valente apparently took his own life via a self-inflicted gunshot. He previously attended the same academic program as Gomes Loureiro between 1995 and 2000.
Foley said in a media briefing it was their understanding that Neves Valente knew Gomes Loureiro. There is no indication he knew the victims of the Brown University shooting.
Neves Valente “appeared to reside in Florida,” according to Foley, and rented a hotel room in Boston between Nov. 26 and Nov. 30. On Dec. 1, he rented a grey Nissan Sentra with Florida plates from a car rental agency in Boston.
Providence police identified the suspect as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, a Brown University student and Portuguese national, according to Col. Oscar L. Perez Jr. 
Federal authorities announced that the suspect in the shootings at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor has been found dead inside a storage facility in New Hampshire. (NEWSNATION) 
The speakers at tonight’s briefing in Providence include Police Col. Oscar Perez, AG Neronha, the FBI, the ATF, Mayor Smiley, Governor McKee and Brown President Paxson (NewsNation) 
Federal authorities announced that the suspect in the shootings at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor has been found dead inside a storage facility in New Hampshire. Providence police identified the suspect as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a former Brown University and Portuguese national from Miami. (NEWSNATION) 
Federal authorities announced that the suspect in the shootings at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor has been found dead inside a storage facility in New Hampshire. Providence police identified the suspect as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a former Brown University and Portuguese national from Miami. (NEWSNATION) 
Federal authorities announced that the suspect in the shootings at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor has been found dead inside a storage facility in New Hampshire. Providence police identified the suspect as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a former Brown University and Portuguese national from Miami. (NEWSNATION) 
Federal authorities announced that the suspect in the shootings at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor has been found dead inside a storage facility in New Hampshire. Providence police identified the suspect as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a former Brown University and Portuguese national from Miami. (NEWSNATION) 
Federal authorities announced that the suspect in the shootings at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor has been found dead inside a storage facility in New Hampshire. Providence police identified the suspect as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a former Brown University and Portuguese national from Miami. (NEWSNATION) 
Federal authorities announced that the suspect in the shootings at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor has been found dead inside a storage facility in New Hampshire. Providence police identified the suspect as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a former Brown University and Portuguese national from Miami. (NEWSNATION) 
Federal authorities announced that the suspect in the shootings at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor has been found dead inside a storage facility in New Hampshire. (NEWSNATION)
On that day, he drove to within proximity of Brown University, where his car was seen intermittently until Dec. 12. On Dec. 13, the Brown University shooting occurred before he returned to Massachusetts and killed Gomes Loureiro on Monday. Subsequently, Neves Valente swapped the vehicle’s plates to unregistered Maine plates and drove to the storage facility in Salem.
On Thursday, police located an abandoned car in Salem and later focused on the storage facility at 10 Hampshire Road. Authorities continue to search the Salem storage unit.
Foley said he had been using a phone with a blocker to prevent tracking, calling him “sophisticated in hiding his tracks.” Google phones and European SIM cards may have prevented real-time tracking of his location.
According to Brown University President Christina Paxson, Neves Valente was enrolled at Brown from 2000-2001, went to graduate school for a Master of Science in physics and took a leave of absence before withdrawing in 2003.
She added he likely attended most of his classes in the Barus & Holley building, where he opened fire Saturday.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said Valente was born in Torres Novas, Portugal, and became a U.S. legal permanent resident in 2017 after arriving as a student in 2000. He later returned under a diversity immigrant visa.
President Donald Trump, as of late Thursday night, has suspended the green card lottery program that allowed Valente into the US, a move confirmed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“I am immediately directing USCIS to pause the DV1 program to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program,” she wrote on X.
Authorities are unaware of any criminal record held by Neves Valente in the U.S.