More than four months after Claudio Manuel Neves Valente opened fire at Brown University, killing two students and injuring nine others, the FBI has concluded a significant portion of its investigation into the December 15 attack. The gunman, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, also killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro in a separate shooting at his home outside Boston. Neves Valente was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on December 18 at a New Hampshire storage facility following a manhunt.
Grievances and Planning
According to the FBI's Boston division, Neves Valente was driven by an 'accumulation of grievances' and began planning the attack in 2022. He confessed to the shootings in videos and audio recordings made after the attacks, showing no remorse. The FBI determined he acted alone and that his victims were 'symbolic in nature,' representing his perceived personal failures and injustices inflicted by others.
Background and Motive
Neves Valente had attended Brown University two decades ago after completing a physics program at Instituto Superior Tecnico in Portugal, which he attended with Loureiro. He withdrew from Brown in 2001 and left the United States. He later obtained lawful permanent residency in 2017 while living in Florida. At the time of the shootings, he was unemployed. The FBI stated that his 'inflated sense of self contributed to interpersonal conflicts in his life and led him to believe he was being treated unjustly.' As his failures mounted, his paranoia increased, compounding his inability to thrive and leading to mental unwellness and a commitment to die.
The agency noted that Neves Valente lacked family or friends who could have seen warning signs and alerted law enforcement.
