What we all know concerning the suspect in Brown and MIT killings : NPR

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Robert F. Bukaty/AP/AP A Reddit publish by an observant witness helped lead investigators to the gunman officers say was accountable for the killing of two college students in the course of the capturing at Brown College on Saturday and for the deadly capturing of an MIT physics professor two days later.

That is based on an affidavit from the Windfall Police Division.

Brown college students Ella Cook dinner, 19, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, had been killed and 9 had been injured within the assault on Saturday on the faculty. MIT physics professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro was killed at his dwelling in Brookline, Massachusetts, about 50 miles away from the positioning of the mass capturing in Windfall, on Monday.

Earlier this week, legislation enforcement tracked Valente to a Salem, New Hampshire, storage unit the place he was found lifeless.

"Whereas we'll by no means be capable of prosecute this particular person, I hope this end result begins to offer some small measure of closure for the victims and their households," mentioned Rhode Island Lawyer Common Peter Neronha.

This is what we all know:

The suspect had ties to Brown College and slain MIT professor

Police say Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, is the person accountable for the 2 assaults in New England.

He was born in Torres Novas, Santarem, Portugal and was a authorized everlasting resident of the USA. Valente arrived within the nation in August 2000 as a graduate pupil at Brown beneath an F-1 visa, which is reserved for worldwide college students to attend faculties or universities full-time within the U.S.

Leah Foley, the U.S. legal professional for the District of Massachusetts, mentioned at a information convention on Thursday that Valente and Loureiro, the slain MIT professor, attended the identical educational program between 1995 and 2000 at a college in Portugal.

Valente was enrolled in Brown's PhD physics program from fall 2000 till the spring 2001 semester, after which he took a go away of absence. He formally withdrew within the fall of 2003, based on the affidavit.

F-1 visa recipients are required to return dwelling after their research. However in Might 2017, Valente obtained a "range immigrant visa" from the U.S. That September, he was admitted to the nation as a authorized everlasting resident at JFK Worldwide Airport in New York, based on the affidavit from the Windfall Police Division.

The Variety Immigrant Visa Program, suspended by the Trump administration within the wake of those shootings, normally makes round 50,000 inexperienced playing cards accessible annually by lottery to individuals from international locations which have low charges of immigration to the U.S.

Police say Valente's final identified tackle was in Miami. It is unclear what occurred throughout Valente's life or what he was doing from 2017 till the times main as much as the shootings.

Reddit publish was the important thing breakthrough In keeping with the affidavit, three days after the capturing, on Dec. 16, investigators obtained data from an nameless supply that mentioned there was a Reddit publish within the Windfall sub-Reddit referencing particulars concerning the capturing. On the time, police had solely launched surveillance photos of the suspect.

This Reddit publish turned a key breakthrough within the case, based on Neronha, Rhode Island's legal professional basic.

This publish, written by a witness, mentioned they noticed the suspect, later recognized as Valente, strolling within the space of Brown earlier than the capturing. The publish learn, "The police must look into a gray Nissan with Florida plates, presumably a rental. That was the automobile he was driving."

The publish goes on to explain that the automobile was parked behind the Rhode Island Historic Society on Cooke Avenue within the metropolis – close to the Brown College campus.

Police are calling this witness "John." And on Dec. 17, John approached Windfall cops and described his uncommon encounter with Valente earlier than the capturing at Brown, based on the affidavit.

Reddit poster 'John' had interactions with the suspect Within the affidavit, investigators say John recounted first seeing Valente in a rest room inside Brown's Barus Holley constructing about two hours earlier than the capturing Saturday.

John described Valente's clothes as "flimsy," "poor high quality" and "inappropriate and insufficient" for the climate on the time, based on the affidavit. He additionally advised police that Valente was sporting a face masks that lined your complete decrease half of his face.

He then encountered Valente once more across the Rhode Island Historic Society and witnessed the gunman method a grey Nissan with Florida plates parked by the constructing.