Brown University and MIT shooting suspect found dead; identified as former grad student

The suspect in last weekend's mass shooting at Brown University was identified as a 48-year-old former graduate student who had studied at the school some 25 years ago.

During a news conference Thursday, authorities identified the suspect as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente and said he took his own life.

Authorities said Valente is also believed to be the killer of MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro in Brookline, Massachusetts, who was gunned down at his home two days after the attack at the university.

An FBI official told reporters it's believed Valente and the MIT professor attended the same university in Portugal.

Law enforcement sources told ABC News that the suspect was found dead inside a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, on Thursday night on the fifth day of a massive manhunt.

Brown University President Christina Paxson said Valente enrolled as a Ph.D student in Brown's physics program in 2000 and attended for a short time. She said it was believed, as a physics student, he spent considerable time in the Barus & Holley engineering building targeted in the attack that left two students dead and wounded nine others.

He had no current affiliation with the school.

Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said Valente was a native of Portugal with a last known address in Miami.

Authorities said Valente entered the U.S. in 2000 on a student visa and obtained lawful permanent residency in 2017.

Police in Providence said they tracked down Valente thanks to a surveillance video and a tip about a vehicle that led to a car rental shop in Massachusetts. There police obtained a copy of the rental agreement with the suspect's name, as well as video of the suspect that matched the videos of the person of interest seen on the Brown University campus on the day of the shooting.

On Saturday afternoon, two Brown students were killed and nine others were wounded when the gunman burst into a first-floor classroom and opened fire before fleeing the scene, sparking a massive manhunt that stretched on for days.

The building was unlocked for exams being held in the building at the time of the shooting, the university president said.

Authorities said Thursday someone confronted the gunman in a bathroom in the building and said he felt like he didn't belong there.

On Monday night, the MIT professor, also a native of Portugal, was found shot at his home in the upscale Boston suburb of Brookline, officials said. Loureiro, 47, died on Tuesday at the hospital.