Authorities are investigating a possible connection between a mass shooting at Brown University last weekend and the murder of an MIT professor near Boston two days later, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The attack at Brown on Saturday left two students dead and nine wounded when a gunman opened fire in an engineering classroom before fleeing. About 50 miles north, MIT professor Nuno FG Loureiro was shot dead in his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, on Monday night. The 47-year-old physicist died in hospital the next day.
Sources say investigators have identified a person of interest in both shootings and are actively searching for the individual. The FBI had previously stated it knew of no links between the cases.
Despite extensive efforts, including a review of surveillance footage and public appeals for information, the Brown shooter remains at large. Police have released videos showing a person matching witness descriptions, but the individual is always masked or with their head turned. The attack occurred in a part of the engineering building with few cameras, and the shooter likely entered and exited through a door facing a residential street.
Authorities have pleaded with the public to check phone and security footage from the week before the attack, believing the shooter may have cased the scene. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley acknowledged it is “a scary time in the city” but assured residents that “everything possible” is being done to keep them safe.
Professor Loureiro, a native of Portugal, joined MIT in 2016 and was recently appointed head of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center. He was a married father and respected figure in fusion energy research.
