Rhode Island, December 19 (ANI): The suspect in the Brown University mass shooting was found dead on Thursday, having taken his own life, CNN reported. Providence Police Chief Oscar L. Perez Jr. confirmed that the body was discovered in a New Hampshire storage facility.
Authorities identified the suspect as Claudio Valente, a 48-year-old former Brown University student and Portuguese national. Alongside his body, police found a satchel, two firearms, and evidence matching the crime scene. A vehicle linked to Valente, located near the facility, was a rental confirmed through FBI financial records.
The December 13 shooting at the Ivy League school left two students dead and nine others injured. Police stated that Valente acted alone during the attack. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said officials would test the firearms for ballistic and DNA evidence but are confident that the search for the perpetrator is over.
“We are 100 per cent confident that this is our target and that this case is closed from a perspective of pursuing people involved,” Neronha said.
Despite the suspect’s death, his motive remains unclear. “I don’t think we have any idea why now or why? Why Brown? Why these students? Why this classroom? That is really unknown to us, and it may become clear,” Neronha added. Officials are also investigating possible links between the Brown shooting and the killing of an MIT professor earlier this week in Massachusetts.
Valente had previously been enrolled in Brown’s Master of Science PhD program in physics from September 2000 to April 2001 before taking a leave of absence and formally withdrawing in July 2003. University President Christina Hull Paxson noted that he was not affiliated with Brown at the time of the attack and that most of his courses were held in the Barus & Holley Engineering and Physics building, where the shooting occurred.
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