3 states, 2 shootings: See where Brown, MIT shooting suspect traveled

The suspect, who authorities say killed two Brown University students and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, traveled more than 80 miles across three states while evading officials during a five-day manhunt.

Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Salem, New Hampshire, on Thursday, Dec. 18, days after he is believed to have opened fire during a finals study session at Brown and, separately, shot and killed a MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro, according to officials.

Neves Valente was a Portuguese national whose last known address was in Miami, Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez said Thursday, Dec. 18.

He attended Brown for a time more than two decades ago and is believed to have known Loureiro, authorities said. Investigators also said they traced Neves Valente through surveillance footage and a tip that helped police link him to a rented car.

The identification and location of Neves Valente put an end to a days-long search that involved hundreds of officials and gripped the elite universities and their local communities.

Where was the Brown University, MIT professor alleged shooter found?

Neves Valente was found dead at a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire.

Local, state, and federal officials began descending on the facility on the evening of Thursday, Dec. 18, as word got out that authorities were pursuing a possible link between the Brown shooting and Loureiro's killing.

Within hours, FBI agents and local police officers from New Hampshire and Providence swarmed the outside of the building, which is located just over the Massachusetts border. They "breached" Neves Valente's storage locker around 9 p.m. local time, Leah Foley, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said at a press conference.

Neves Valente had rented the storage facility in November, Foley said.

How far did the suspect travel?

Neves Valente traveled more than 80 miles across three states in the period after the shooting at Brown University.

On Dec. 13, he allegedly killed two and injured nine others in the shooting at Brown's Barus & Holley building. Brown students Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov died in the attack.

Authorities said he then drove 50 miles north to Brookline, Massachusetts, where he allegedly shot and killed Loureiro at his home on Monday, Dec. 15. On Thursday, Dec. 18, he was found dead in Salem, New Hampshire, which is about 30 more miles north of Brookline.

Neves Valente was driving a gray Nissan Sentra he had rented from a car rental agency in Boston earlier this month. The car had a Florida license plate, but he switched it to an unregistered plate from Maine while in Massachusetts, Foley said.

Suspect's connection to Brown University, MIT professor

While questions remain about Neves Valente's motives in the killings, officials have shared information about his ties to both Brown and Loureiro.

Neves Valente was a former student at Brown, Christina Paxson, the university's president, said at a news conference. He was enrolled in a PhD physics program from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001 before taking a leave of absence. He formally withdrew from the university in 2003, Paxson said.

According to a court affidavit, Neves Valente and Loureiro attended the same academic program at a university in Portugal from 1995 to 2000.

Neves Valente had a student visa while studying at Brown University, and later obtained U.S. lawful permanent residency in April 2017, the Rhode Island Attorney General's office said.

Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at [email protected]. 

Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, N'dea Yancey-Bragg, Katie Mulvaney, Michael Loria, Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY Network