What we know about the suspect in the Brown and MIT murders: NPR

A post on Reddit by an observant witness helped lead investigators to the gunman who officials say is responsible for the deaths of two students during a shooting at Brown University on Saturday and for the fatal shooting of an MIT physics professor two days later.

That’s according to that Affidavit From the Providence Police Department.

Students Ella Cook, 19, and Muhammad Aziz Umurzukov, 18, were killed and nine others injured in Saturday’s attack on the school. Nuno F. J. Loureiro is a professor of physics at MIT He was killed at his home in BrooklynMassachusetts, about 50 miles from the site of the mass shooting in Providence on Monday.

Earlier this week, law enforcement tracked Valente to a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, where he was discovered dead.

“Although we will never be able to prosecute this person, I hope this outcome provides a small amount of closure for the victims and their families,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neroha said.

Here’s what we know:

The suspect had ties to Brown University and killed an MIT professor

Police say Claudio Manuel Nieves Valiente, 48, is the man responsible for both attacks in New England.

He was born in Torres Novas, Santarém, Portugal and was a legal permanent resident of the United States. Valente arrived in the country in August 2000 as a graduate student at Brown University under an F-1 visa, which is reserved for international students to attend full-time colleges or universities in the United States.

Leah Foley, US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, He said in a press conference On Thursday, Valente and Loureiro, the slain MIT professor, attended the same academic program between 1995 and 2000 at a university in Portugal.

Valente was enrolled in Brown University’s physics doctoral program from the fall of 2000 through the spring semester of 2001, after which he took a leave of absence. He officially withdrew in the fall of 2003, according to the affidavit.

F-1 visa holders are required to return to their home country after their studies. But in May 2017, Valente obtained a “diversity immigrant visa” from the United States. In September of that year, he was admitted into the country as a lawful permanent resident at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to an affidavit from the Providence Police Department.

Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, It was suspended by the Trump administration In the wake of these shootings, it typically makes about 50,000 green cards available annually by lottery to people from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.

Police say Valente’s last known address was in Miami. It’s not clear what happened during Valente’s life or what he was doing from 2017 until the days before the shooting.

The Reddit post was the major breakthrough

According to the affidavit, three days after the shooting, on December 16, investigators received information from an anonymous source who said there was a Reddit post on the Providence subreddit indicating details about the shooting. At the time, police only released surveillance images of the suspect.

The post on Reddit became a major breakthrough in the case, according to Neronha, the Rhode Island attorney general.

The post, written by a witness, said they saw the suspect, later identified as Valiente, walking in the Brown area before the shooting. “Police should check a gray Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental. That was the car he was driving,” the post read.

The post goes on to describe that the car was parked behind the Rhode Island Historical Society on Cook Street in the city — near the Brown University campus.

The police call this witness “John.” On Dec. 17, John approached Providence police officers and described his unusual encounter with Valiente before shooting Brown, according to the affidavit.

Reddit poster “John” had interactions with the suspect

In the affidavit, investigators say John first recounted seeing Valiente in the bathroom inside the Brown Barrows Holly building about two hours before the shooting on Saturday.

John described Valiente’s clothing as “flimsy,” “poor quality” and “inappropriate and inappropriate” for the weather at the time, according to the affidavit. He also told police that Valente was wearing a face mask that covered the entire lower half of his face.

He then met Valenti again around the Rhode Island Historical Society and saw the gunman approach a gray Nissan with Florida plates parked next to the building.

John said the “cat and mouse” game began with Valiente as he continued to follow him.

According to the affidavit, John confronted Valenti and Valenti responded, “I don’t know you from anyone. Why are you bothering me?”

Finally, John continued on his way.

This is a developing story.