A lengthy grudge was at the heart of the deadly mass shooting at Brown University and subsequent murder of an MIT nuclear physics professor, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
According to the sources, the alleged killer, Claudio Valente, recorded a video in his native Portuguese explaining his motive for opening fire on a study group at Brown’s engineering and physics building on Dec. 13, killing two students and injuring nine others, before fatally shooting MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Claudio Neves Valente, suspect in the Brown University shooting in Providence, in this undated handout image released, December 18, 2025.
U.S. Attorney Massachusetts via Reuters
On the video, Valente, a former Brown graduate student, said he was planning the shooting for a long time, according to sources. The violence stunned the nation and launched a six-day manhunt across New England just before Christmas.
Police officers remain on the scene of a shooting that killed two and wounded at least eight at Brown University, December 13, 2025 in Providence, Rhode Island.
Libby O’Neill/Getty Images
Valente died by suicide before investigators found his body in a New Hampshire storage facility.
Federal agents spent the holidays poring over electronic devices found with the body and in an adjacent storage unit. The sources said there are additional devices to access and additional information to be learned about the twin shootings that cast a pall over two of the nation’s elite universities.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
