FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, release detailed findings on Brown University and Brookline shootings

The Boston Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts have concluded a significant portion of the investigation into the mass shooting at Brown University that took place on December 13, 2025, in Providence, Rhode Island, and the murder of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Dr. Nuno Loureiro on December 15, 2025, in Brookline, Massachusetts. 

The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office received valuable assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Providence Police Department; the Rhode Island State Police; the Brookline Police Department; the Massachusetts State Police; the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office; the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office; and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Districts of Rhode Island and New Hampshire. 
  
The FBI has worked closely with its law enforcement partners across the United States and around the world on a coordinated and comprehensive investigation. After recovering more than 112 pieces of evidence, running down more than 490 leads, combing through more than 11,000 files of surveillance footage, analyzing 815 videos and 1,327 audio files found on the shooter’s electronic devices, and conducting more than 260 interviews, the investigative team has reached the following conclusions.  

Massachusetts Department of Justice: Brown University shooter blamed children he shot for their deaths
 
The investigation found that Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a Portuguese national and a legal permanent resident living in Miami, Florida, acting alone, committed the mass shooting at Brown University and the murder of Dr. Loureiro. His actions were determined to have no nexus to terrorism. 
 
Neves Valente was born in Torres Novas, Santarem, Portugal, and was 48 years old. He arrived in the United States in August 2000 on a student visa at Brown University after completing a physics program at Instituto Superior Tecnico in Portugal. That fall, Neves Valente enrolled in a doctoral program at Brown University but subsequently withdrew in May 2001 and left the United States. In 2017, Neves Valente obtained lawful permanent residency while living in Miami, Florida, and briefly worked as a rideshare driver. At the time of the shootings, Neves Valente was unemployed and had no criminal record or prior documented contacts with law enforcement. 
 
The two 9mm pistols recovered by the FBI’s Evidence Response Team in Salem, New Hampshire, with the body of Neves Valente were legally purchased by him from a pawn shop in Florida. The first firearm, a Glock 34 9mm, was purchased on July 19, 2020, and was used in the Brown University shooting. The second, a Glock 26 9mm, purchased on March 22, 2022, is positively correlated with the murder of Dr. Loureiro.  
 
Following the shootings, Neves Valente made a series of audio files and short videos in which he confessed to committing these crimes, showed no remorse, and provided no reason for his actions. 
 
Neves Valente stated he began planning the attack at Brown University in 2022, which is when he acquired the storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, and transported his firearms to that location.  
 
The investigative team took diligent steps to determine the reason or reasons why Neves Valente decided to commit these shootings. The FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, based in Quantico, Virginia, further assisted the local investigative team in answering these questions.  
 
Based on analysis of the information and evidence gathered throughout the investigation, the FBI assesses Neves Valente’s victims were symbolic in nature. Brown University as a whole and Dr. Loureiro represented to the shooter his personal failures and injustices he perceived were inflicted by others over time. By attacking them, Neves Valente was likely able to overcome his shame and envy by using violence to punish those communities that he perceived contributed to his downfall.  
 
The FBI has determined that Neves Valente was committed to conducting the attack and had completed his planning. He considered, planned, and prepared for the mass shooting at Brown University in increments over a period of several years in isolation, spanning multiple geographic locations. Neves Valente’s transient lifestyle, long-term planning, and social isolation provided little to no opportunity for bystanders to observe and contextualize the significance of his behaviors. The shooter lacked traditional support, such as family, peers, and authority figures, who would have been able to observe any potential warning signs and contact law enforcement. 
 
Additionally, the FBI assesses Neves Valente was driven by an accumulation of grievances that he collected throughout his life. He appeared to struggle with how he viewed his life achievements and felt he was considerably marginalized by others. The shooter’s inflated sense of self contributed to interpersonal conflicts in his life and led him to believe he was being treated unjustly, preventing him from reaching his perceived full potential.  
 
The FBI believes the shooter experienced a failure to thrive, long-standing suicidality, and his current situation was incongruent to where he felt he should be at this stage in his life. As his failures outweighed successes, his paranoia increased, compounding his continued inability to thrive, leading to him being mentally unwell and committed to dying. However, mental health stressors alone cannot fully explain the attacks that occurred. 
 
It is important to note that only Neves Valente knew the real reason why he committed these heinous acts. However, at this time, the FBI is confident, based on the evidence collected, the shooter’s own writings and recordings, and interviews with those who knew him best, that the above assessment is accurate. 
 
Based on the evidence seized and analyzed to date, investigators continue to believe there aren’t any ongoing public safety threats associated with the shootings. This remains an ongoing investigation and no further information will be released at this time. Additional updates will be provided if new information is developed, following appropriate victim notification.