Brown University Shooting Suspect Found Dead in New Hampshire

Townhall 

It has been a wild few days regarding the Brown University shooting, which left two people dead and nine wounded on December 13. The suspect entered the school’s engineering building. How he was able to do that is still unknown. He walked off campus, where he knew cameras would be less likely to be present. Brown posts the location of their security cameras. We don’t know his name, but after five days of shambolic pressers from Rhode Island and university officials, we had a lead, and it was officially a manhunt. A person of interest was identified and tracked down to Salem, New Hampshire, where police promptly swarmed him. 

Fox News reported that this suspect is now dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His vehicle was discovered at a storage facility, where this person of interest reportedly owns a unit. Police surrounded and stormed the facility earlier this evening. It’s not your typical shooter: he planned for this attack, with multiple license plate changes, and knew how to avoid facial recognition technology and charted areas with minimal video surveillance. 

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha added that the second person of interest, who was “in proximity” of the Brown shooting suspect, came forward to police with key information, including the description of the suspect and the car. He added that the suspect was found with two firearms, including some of the items seen being worn in the video footage. The affidavit will be posted on the state’s website, but the arrest warrant was issued today. The individual is not an American citizen but a legal permanent resident named Claudio Neves-Valente,48, a Portuguese national. As far as we know, he acted alone. Antisemitism is not considered a motivation at this time. We still don't know what he said before opening fire at Brown.

That key eyewitness development is excellent, though five days later, police hadn't interviewed any of the student witnesses.  

Throughout the past few days, the university couldn’t answer basic questions about the shooting and bungled an answer about the school’s alert system. President Christian Paxson said “I don’t know” to multiple questions during the first press conference. Mayor Brett Smiley whined about being tired, and everyone botched the question about cameras.  

Someone finally blew his stack at yesterday's pressers, wondering if cameras were removed to prevent them from being used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in their ongoing mass deportation operations. A student assistant, who was scrubbed from the university's website, was roped into this mess. He was never a suspect, but school and law enforcement officials gave heinous answers to that effect, which only poured gasoline on the pyre instead of resolving the matter.  

Just say this student assistant wasn’t a suspect, Providence Police. Why does Brown need to toss out a rather shoddy statement about doxxing? Every aspect of this case has been mismanaged.  

It was revealed earlier today that the Brown University shooting and the killing of MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro in Brookline, Massachusetts, on December 15 might be linked. Police investigators in both cases compared notes and felt there was enough to suggest a connection. 

Valente was an alumnus of Brown.