Authorities announced this week that Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, the man responsible for the Dec. 13 mass shooting at Brown University, had finally been located.

He was found dead.

Valente, 48, had taken the coward’s way out, a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, days before police ever closed in. Two students were dead. Nine others were wounded. And the manhunt everyone thought was reaching its climax had, in reality, been chasing a corpse.

On the afternoon of December 13th, Valente walked into Barus & Holley Hall at Brown University while students were gathered for a final-exam review session. The building was unlocked for exams. A first-floor auditorium was full of students doing exactly what universities ask them to do: study.

Valente opened fire.

19-year-old Ella Cook and 18-year-old MukhammadAziz Umurzokov were killed. Nine others were wounded. Students described chaos, gunfire, and a masked man storming the room.

This was not a spur-of-the-moment act. Investigators later confirmed Valente was heavily armed, equipped, and prepared.

Two days after the Brown shooting, Valente allegedly murdered Nuno F. G. Loureiro, a 47-year-old MIT physics professor, at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts.

That sequencing matters.

Extraneous killings tied to school shooters are not unheard of. Kip Kinkel killed his parents before attacking his school. Adam Lanza killed his mother before Sandy Hook, and Jeff Weise killed his guardian grandfather before Red Lake. But those killings almost always happen before the school shooting, not after.

Valente’s case breaks that pattern.

For days, investigators were stuck. Surveillance images were grainy. The suspect’s movements were unclear. Police even publicly focused on a different person of interest, only to clear and release him later, a move that understandably rattled the public.

Then came Reddit.

A user posted about a strange encounter with a man inside the Brown engineering building before the shooting. Something about him having erratic behavior and that there was something “off.” The Redditor also suggested investigators look for a gray Nissan, possibly a rental.

That tip cracked everything open.

I’m usually the first to criticize ‘Reddit Detectives,’ who often muddy investigations, harass innocent people, and inject noise where clarity is needed. But credit where it’s due. Good for this guy. That tip led police to license-plate readers, a rental agreement, Valente’s real identity, and ultimately the New Hampshire storage facility.

By the time FBI SWAT teams executed a warrant at the storage facility, Valente had already been dead for days. He was found with two 9mm Glock pistols equipped with green laser sights, multiple magazines holding nearly 200 rounds of ammunition, and close to $900 in cash. Additional ammunition and body armor were discovered in his vehicle, along with multiple license plates and several USB drives now being examined for evidence of planning or motive.

Authorities feared he may have had additional targets. Also, there is no evidence of accomplices, and historically that tracks. In U.S. school shootings, multiple shooters have only occurred twice. The first was the Columbine High School massacre, and the second was the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting.

Valente attended Brown as a physics graduate student from 2000 to 2001, which was almost a quarter-century ago. He took a leave of absence, then withdrew.

Former classmates described him as brilliant, arrogant, socially awkward, and angry. He reportedly complained that Brown’s physics program was “too easy,” that he already deserved a Ph.D., and that he hated both Brown and Providence. One former classmate recalled having to break up a confrontation where Valente insulted another student over his Brazilian heritage.

Valente and Loureiro also attended the same elite physics program at Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal in the 1990s. They were classmates, but not close. There’s no evidence Loureiro even remembered Valente or knew him beyond passing familiarity.

As of this writing, authorities have not released a motive. But we’ve seen this profile before.

Like many school shooters, Valente believed himself superior to those around him. Like many, he externalized failure. Like many, he nursed grievances long after everyone else moved on. And if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say he carried resentments against both Brown and Loureiro. Resentment fueled by perceived slights, stalled ambition, and envy of someone who succeeded where he did not.

Loureiro went on to become a respected MIT professor and leader in fusion science. Valente disappeared.

In response, Donald Trump and Kristi Noem announced the suspension of the diversity immigration visa lottery.

It won’t prevent future school shootings.

The overwhelming majority of school shooters in the United States are native-born and often right-wing extremists, including Nikolas Cruz, William Atchison, Elliot Rodger, Dylann Roof, Chris Harper-Mercer, Phoenix Ikner, and Ethan Crumbley, among many others.

Valente was in the United States legally. What remains untouched in this response is the role of firearms—the guns, ammunition, and tactical gear he was legally allowed to obtain.

This case represents a familiar perfect storm of failure. Investigative delays, misidentification, and structural failure layered atop a country already saturated with mass shootings. Valente’s death came days before police closed in, rendering much of the manhunt symbolic rather than effective.

If Valente was seeking notoriety, he won’t get it. In a nation with this volume of mass violence, his name will soon be forgotten. What will not fade is the pattern of scapegoating ‘others’ while ignoring guns and also ignoring the certainty that it will happen again.

(Sources)

• Brown University shooting suspect found dead in New Hampshire storage unit
• Brown mass shooting and MIT professor murder linked, sources say
• What to know about the investigations into the Brown University shooting and the killing of an MIT professor
• Brown, MIT suspect had 200 rounds, authorities feared hit list: official
• Former classmates of Brown, MIT shooting suspect remember brilliant but troubled student
• Former classmate says Claudio Neves Valente hated Brown and Providence