Attorney General Neronha, law enforcement partners announce death of suspect in Brown University mass shooting

PROVIDENCE, RI – Attorney General Peter F. Neronha, Mayor Brett P. Smiley, the Providence Police Department, the Rhode Island State Police, the Boston Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island are today announcing the death of Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, the individual responsible for the murders of two students during a mass shooting at Brown University on Saturday, December 13, 2025.

“Our singular goal was to obtain justice for the victims of this senseless act, and tonight our community can begin to heal as we close the book on this unimaginable tragedy,” said Attorney General Neronha. “While we’ll never be able to prosecute this individual, I hope this result begins to provide some small measure of closure for the victims and their families. I want to extend enormous gratitude to all of our law enforcement partners for their outstanding work in this case. Since Saturday, these men and women have worked around the clock in order to achieve justice for the victims and restore a sense of peace to Rhode Islanders.”

On December 18, 2025, a Rhode Island state court, based on an affidavit from a Providence Police Detective, issued a state arrest warrant for Neves Valente charging him with two counts of murder and 23 felony counts of assault and felony firearms offenses.

Earlier this evening, law enforcement tracked Neves Valente to a Salem, New Hampshire storage unit. After obtaining a federal search warrant for the unit, authorities entered and found Neves Valente deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Neves Valente (age 48) was born in Torres Novas, Santarem, Portugal and was a Legal Permanent Resident of the United States. Neves Valente arrived in the United States in August 2000 as an F-1 student at Brown University and subsequently obtained U.S. lawful permanent residency in April 2017. While at Brown University, he was enrolled in a doctoral program but subsequently withdrew from the university.

Governor Maura Healey issued the following statement: 

“I’m grateful for the heroic efforts of law enforcement across multiple jurisdictions to locate the suspect, including the Massachusetts State Police, whose work and shared evidence were instrumental,” said Governor Healey. “While we try to make sense of this senseless violence, we mourn the loss of Professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro, Ella Cook and Mukhammed Aziz Umurzokov, and our hearts are with the MIT and Brown communities. I want the people of Massachusetts to know that law enforcement across all levels of government is working together to learn more about what happened and keep our communities safe.”