RI - Mass Shooting at Brown University - Providence 13 Dec 2025

[acutename]

All of the enhanced video showing him all over the place was released on Tuesday. I think he knew he had been far sloppier than he realized and that his cunning plan was actually falling apart. There was no escape.

people are making a lot of his return plane ticket- sometimes it is just easier to buy round trip tkts and one ways can raise some Qs.

 

[Synergizer Bunny]

the least brown can do is give him a dorm room for life

maybe also throw in cafeteria credits unless some brown alumni here tell us that would be punishment actuallyt

I hope that he gets the $50k reward. He is the one that provided crucial information to track down the perpetrator.

I believe that it was the Providence Attorney General who spoke very highly of John. He said that John was very intelligent and articulate and that he deserved the $50k (which I think was offered by the FBI).

I also believe it was at that press conference where it was said that John posted on Reddit and another Reddit poster called in his tip and that's how they tracked down John. I recall reading that exchange. John also said that he had contacted the FBI when the other poster said that s/he called in the tip.

I'm not sure that John really called the FBI; however, after they televised his photos as being a second person of interest/witness that the police needed to contact, he really didn't have much of a choice. He definitely didn't want to be considered an accomplice to the Brown University shootings.

I felt bad for him; however, this may be the best thing that ever happened to him. He might get the reward money and a job offer!

JMO.

 

[Cedars]

“Until this morning [Friday], the last thing I knew about Cláudio was that he returned to Portugal and worked for a few years at Portugal Telecom, at Sapo, as an IT specialist,”

That would have been still the early 2000's, when he was in his early 20's.

-born: 1978
-Attended Engineering Physics in Portugal 1995-2000 (age 17-22)
-Attended Brown PhD program in 2000 (age 22).
-Returned to Portugal to work in IT, lost touch with everyone, c. 2001, age 23.

He may have needed money after leaving Brown and cutting himself off from.his parents. A well paid job in IT at age 23 is nothing to sneeze at.

Jobs in IT in 2001 were not help desk - that's when transitions from mainframes to desktop were underway, involving firewalls and other major innovations. Billionaire Bill Gates introduced Microsoft XP that year, and Apple opened their first stores.

A smart person could well decide the future was in IT, not theoretical physics.

IMO, the story will be about what happened in the following 18 years. Most people go through a lot of experiences from age 23 to 48.

We know he wanted to leave Portugal and go back to the US, and had the massive good luck to win the lottery 9 years ago (age 39).

That's a lot of years to shape him into who he was when he decided on this, IMO, suicidal rampage.

 

[acutename]

An interview with a fellow Brown Ph.D. candidate who entered the program at the same time as CV. Pretty interesting view he had of the program and living in the US. I mean, it's hard to compete with Portugal.

“He often complained about moving to the United States and about the university,” Watson, a physics professor at Syracuse University, said. “He would say the classes were too easy—honestly, for him they were. He already knew most of the material and was genuinely impressive. I remember him getting irritated about the quality of food on campus, especially the lack of high-quality fish.”

Suspected Brown shooter was ‘socially awkward,’ college classmate says

“During his time at Brown, I was essentially his only friend,” Watson told The Independent.

www.the-independent.com

There is a lot of research that a high IQ is not always determinative of a successful life. Sometimes these people never really "fit in," are chronically bored, do not enjoy a lot of ordinary activities, etc.

Are High IQ People More Successful?​

Verywell Mind
https://www.verywellmind.com › are-people-with-high-...




Dec 9, 2025 — High IQ people are often assumed to be more successful, but research shows that the connection between IQ and success is complicated.

 

[Synergizer Bunny]

but he reportedly had a return airline ticket to florida. imo he didn't plan the suicide, he changed his mind.

can't decide if he thought he was busted. the investigation wasn't looking promising on tuesday. LE had wasted a day on the wrong guy, while CV was on his way to kill NL. by tuesday, there was only a few blurry clips of a masked guy walking around, and an initially obscure reddit post. though maybe he remembered john was all over him and saw his car, and figured it was only a matter of time before LE found the car and it led back to him?

but i more suspect that after the murders, he didn't feel the way he thought he would. i assume the actual experience of committing murder is quite jarring and disturbing. and in this case, you also have a fantasy about revenge that gets replaced with some cold, hard realities. ..... also, it sounds like maybe the brown shooting didn't go according to plan. john messed him up and may have pushed it back to a different class 1-2 hours later. the students exited before he entered, possibly surprising him, hence the shooting starting in the hall. 2 deaths is probably a lot less than the number he fantasized about, with as many rounds as he brought. ........ also also, he might have been affected by a reaction from NL's daughter, who he apparently chose to spare.

I think that his target was the professor all along. I can't figure out why he would go to Brown University unless he knew about their lack of security and wanted to expose them in a negative light.

I think that, if John hadn't followed him and seen the car he was driving, that he would have returned home to Florida. I think that CV is smart enough to know that John was going to go to LE and tell them what car he was driving and the license plate and that the police would eventually be able to identify him.

He knew that he would be spending the rest of his life in prison and chose to take the easy way out.

Just my opinion.

 

[acutename]

Private sales are only legal for people who are residents of the same state. If the shooter was from Florida, it was illegal for him to buy a gun in NH. To protect themselves, sellers in private sales usually ask for ID. Otherwise the seller is subject to arrest.

The shooter probably bought his guns where he lived, legally, and traveled with them.

on a plane? In checked baggage? maybe he UPS'd them to an apartment?

 

[getthefax]

The few things that have been published so far (all in this thread) from people who knew him at Brown mention the attitude but also the ability and knowledge. People are not saying that he thought he knew it all and clearly didn’t. He was the real deal.

It’s significant that we’re hearing nothing so far from people who knew him in the last two decades: family, friends, colleagues. I’d have expected a lot of people to have come forward to say they knew this person, who was once a top-tier talent. Where did he disappear for over two decades? Where’s his online presence?

Was he programming somewhere quietly? Raising chickens on a hilltop? In jail or a medical facility? It’s mysterious. Whatever he was doing, you’d expect him to have been memorable.

RBBM

This! is wild to me, too. I am sure they will be running this down in the days/weeks to come. I'm wondering who he was talking to on his cell phone while he was pictured standing there using it at the car rental agency.

It seems that absolutely no one from the US side of things knows him or has talked with him, which is really unusual. Not even a neighbor, friend, co-worker, no one. Not a peep. It's weird.

EBM to add an ' to it's

 

[Lebowski]

Per what they say in this portuguese article it sounds he didnt have a good relationship with his parents even before moving to the US, he sold the house without telling them, it also says he was an only child: "Pais vinham vê-lo, porque ele estava sozinho, e ele não abria a porta": vizinhos recordam passado de Cláudio Valente

so he owned a house (condo?) in lisbon at age 20 or so? unless property is a lot cheaper there, i have to think his parents paid for it? and he sells it without telling them and goes to the US. just ghosts them.

wonder if the dismissal from the position at IST really was a failure that he was ashamed of? ... or he really, really didn't like his parents? or he was just one hell of an ?

 

[acutename]

Yes you can absolutely check firearms in your luggage

Transporting Firearms and Ammunition | Transportation Security Administration

Learn how to properly prepare, pack and declare firearms and ammunition in checked baggage when flying. Review TSA rules, airline policies, and legal requirements.

www.tsa.gov

I know that is an option-hunters do it all the time. I guess I just think if I were planning to shoot people, I would be trying to hide everything, but then I am not like this killer. Will be interesting if they were legally registered to him and he flew with them.

 

[Lebowski]

RBBM

This! is wild to me, too. I am sure they will be running this down in the days/weeks to come. I'm wondering who he was talking to on his cell phone while he was pictured standing there using it at the car rental agency.

It seems that absolutely no one from the US side of things knows him or has talked with him, which is really unusual. Not even a neighbor, friend, co-worker, no one. Not a peep. Its weird.

his last known address is a house in miami where he is not listed as the owner. either he is renting the house, subletting a room, staying with someone, or a friend let him have mail sent there. renting the house or subletting a room suggests he had a job somewhere. if he's just crashing or having his mail sent there, then it's a friend. either way, co-workers or friends should exist.

unless he found a way to make money without having to deal with people? ecommerce or whatever.

 

[LAborn]

Based on his high opinion of himself and intelligence, I'm convinced he believed he could outsmart LE and get away with it. When he realized he couldn't, he wanted to "go out" on his terms as many of these mass shooters do. Ultimately he was an arrogant, bitter man who couldn't accept the choices he made in life and destroyed others because of it.

 

[Warwick1991]

on a plane? In checked baggage? maybe he UPS'd them to an apartment?

You can't send pistols via UPS as an individual; you need to be dealer with a license. Ditto for FedEx and USPS. He probably had them in this checked baggage. I think the pistols were purchased in Florida and taken with via checked baggage.

Florida doesn't have gun registration, like many US states. There wasn't that much of a risk for him to put the pistols in his checked baggage. If he tried to put them in a carry on, that's a different story ..

 

[Warwick1991]

so he owned a house (condo?) in lisbon at age 20 or so? unless property is a lot cheaper there, i have to think his parents paid for it? and he sells it without telling them and goes to the US. just ghosts them.

wonder if the dismissal from the position at IST really was a failure that he was ashamed of? ... or he really, really didn't like his parents? or he was just one hell of an ?

I hope he didn't sell his parents' house from under them, but might have done just that.

 

[browneyes]

Moo. The reward $ except for the fine print..should be his. If they do not pay out on this... seriously what's the point of putting up reward when people rarely get reward. I really want Trump to say something about this situation.

Oh, I hope he doesn’t say anything about this hero.

 

[browneyes]

Claudio Neves Valente... was a top student but a disruptive personality in his native Portugal, recalled classmates on Friday.

Quotes from a former classmate in Portugal (more at the link):

“Claudio was obviously one of the best, but in class he had a great need to stand out and show that he was better than the rest,”

“Claudio’s attitude was unpleasant,” often arguing with “colleagues he didn’t consider as brilliant as him (and who probably weren’t),” “They were totally unnecessary quarrels, which did not help the class at all.”

His Brown classmate on why he left:

“Claudio thought none of it was worth it, which was a waste of time and the others were all incapable,”

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/19/us/neves-valente-brown-shooting-classmates-invs

Sounds like another murderer we know….ahem, BK.

 

[acutename]

Sounds like another murderer we know….ahem, BK.

thought of that... smart but not a good TA

 

[justtrish]

Points well taken. I am only pointing out that we know absolutely nothing about this circumstances/joblessness/homelessness etc., and should not make assumptions there. We know no more than what John himself wanted us to know, if we are to respect his wishes.

I am absolutely sure the police are well aware that this is not a sort of fame that does anyone any good.

That said, I stand by my statement about it being curious to both offer information on Reddit about the crime AND wanting to remain anonymous. I think he knew at some point his having been photographed on and around campus more than other folks (if he was living around the building) and not being a currently enrolled student, that would have raised suspicion that would have to have been ironed out. The police were, in fact, looking for a POI who was seen around the shooter.

I am GLAD he came forward, and I hope he gets the reward $$$. But I am not assuming the guy is a homeless guy with no job/prospects, because we honestly just don't have much of that information.

He posted on Reddit BEFORE photos of him were released. I think it was more of a no way I saw this guy or I had this interaction with this guy and I'm not sure he realized what a big piece of the puzzle he actually had. I don't think he even realized he had a piece at all. Then his photo was released. Reddit is a place where people usually want to be anonymous (like here on WS). Suddenly LE announces they want to talk to this person in these photos and there is a video of nearly the exact interaction the person mentions days before. He said he wasn't the person in the photo because he wanted privacy, I'm sure. Then LE outs him in the AA and it must be overwhelming to now be known and in the spotlight.

I will say I can see now with his clothing that he likely has layers of pants on and many who are homeless do this. It is so easy to find yourself homeless. If you lose your place to live and can't afford a deposit and first/last rent, it can be difficult. If you don't hvae a place where do you put any stuff you have? Things can go downhill very fast so this person could have had a job and just lost their home, and things spiral if you can't get back on your feet.

IMO

 

[Tealgrove]

Based on his high opinion of himself and intelligence, I'm convinced he believed he could outsmart LE and get away with it. When he realized he couldn't, he wanted to "go out" on his terms as many of these mass shooters do. Ultimately he was an arrogant, bitter man who couldn't accept the choices he made in life and destroyed others because of it.

Bryan Kohberger all over again. The parallels are intriguing.

 

[justtrish]

Providence mayor has wrote a letter to the Director of the FBI about John and the reward money.

Brett Smiley

John is no less than a hero. His bravery, selflessness and stewardship on behalf of his community went far beyond what anyone could ever hope from a tip. I believe that our community is breathing...

www.facebook.com

 

[getthefax]

RBBM

He posted on Reddit BEFORE photos of him were released. I think it was more of a no way I saw this guy or I had this interaction with this guy and I'm not sure he realized what a big piece of the puzzle he actually had. I don't think he even realized he had a piece at all. Then his photo was released. Reddit is a place where people usually want to be anonymous (like here on WS). Suddenly LE announces they want to talk to this person in these photos and there is a video of nearly the exact interaction the person mentions days before. He said he wasn't the person in the photo because he wanted privacy, I'm sure. Then LE outs him in the AA and it must be overwhelming to now be known and in the spotlight.

I will say I can see now with his clothing that he likely has layers of pants on and many who are homeless do this. It is so easy to find yourself homeless. If you lose your place to live and can't afford a deposit and first/last rent, it can be difficult. If you don't hvae a place where do you put any stuff you have? Things can go downhill very fast so this person could have had a job and just lost their home, and things spiral if you can't get back on your feet.

IMO

Points well taken.

He posted on Reddit before photos were released, yes, but John himself knew he had actually interacted with the shooter when we the public did not know that. He absolutely knew he had several pieces of the puzzle, which we only learned about after the police blabbed it to the news. John posted on Reddit like, "oh, hey, they should check out this car..." like it was incidental, when he knew he had far more relevant information. IMO, posting casually on Reddit while the shooter was at large was a very dicey move. I still say it was a pretty curious choice.

If John was actually living/hanging around there, he had to assume he was captured on camera all over the dang place, questioning and running off the shooter, etc as we came to find out he did. Not being an enrolled student would certainly raise suspicion about those interactions, no? The police would certainly be combing through all cameras in the area, and would very quickly be able to identify folks who were not enrolled, and wondering what they were doing in that area at the time.
John actually also went to Brown--he's a smart guy. He had to have known someone would come looking for him, or at least wondering, "hey, what about that guy who kinda haunts our building?" So, he had to come forward. I am very glad he did.

I am still not sure how down on his luck he is, and John himself has not spoken of this. I work with the public and am very aware of how easy it is for a person to become homeless--and I also know that not all homeless people are jobless, dirty, addicted, etc., or homeless against their will. It is. not possible to identify homelessness by looking at a person. John did not elaborate on his circumstances, so I am leaving that a blank until he himself fills that in. We really don't know his circumstances (for all we know, the police have said he was a person with no abode to protect him from media/hysteria. He could actually have a home!)

In the photos I saw, he looked very normally dressed (IMHO). It's pretty cold in RI these days--layers would not be unusual.