The individual identified by authorities as the assailant responsible for the deaths of two Brown University students and an MIT professor recorded videos detailing his premeditated plan for the attack over the course of six academic terms, as per information disclosed by the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday.
Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old former Brown student and Portuguese citizen, was discovered deceased in a New Hampshire storage facility following his fatal shooting of two students and injury of nine others in an engineering building on December 13. Two days later, he also murdered MIT Professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro at his residence in Brookline, a Boston suburb.
Officials from the Department of Justice reported that during the search of the storage unit where Neves Valente’s body was found, the FBI uncovered an electronic device containing a series of brief videos made by the assailant post the shootings.
In the video recordings, the perpetrator confessed in Portuguese to meticulously planning the Brown University shooting over an extended period without specifying a motive for targeting Brown or the MIT professor, with whom he had studied in Portugal many years ago.
He expressed a lack of remorse and a desire to depart life on his own terms, also mentioning his dissatisfaction over sustaining an eye injury during the shootings.
Neves Valente, who authorities stated died by self-inflicted gunshot, articulated that his sole intention was to control the circumstances of his departure and avoid being the one who suffered the most from the consequences.
In the recordings, he disclosed having leased the storage space where his body was discovered for approximately three years.
Additionally, Neves Valente referenced an encounter with a witness at Brown University that eventually led to his identification, acknowledging that the witness had observed his license plate, prompting law enforcement to investigate further.
Before this revelation, law enforcement had not linked a vehicle to the shooting incident, according to official reports.
Neves Valente declared on the recording that he never anticipated it would take authorities as long as it did to apprehend him after the witness reported his involvement.
He asserted his neutral sentiments towards the United States, where he arrived about 25 years ago to pursue a physics degree at Brown’s graduate program before departing in 2001. Neves Valente had initially studied at Brown on a student visa and later obtained legal permanent residency status in September 2017, with his last known residence in Miami.
Reflecting on his time spent in various places, Neves Valente expressed a detached attitude towards his surroundings, emphasizing his prolonged indifference to his environment.