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

[LAhiker]

Regarding homeless people living in university buildings, my own academic career included three universities. In two of them, there was someone living in our department. In the university where I was an undergrad, a tech worker lived in what in effect was their office. In the second university, a fellow grad student lived in the basement. We learned to say things like "so & so isn't here yet" instead of "so & so isn't up yet." It can be good having someone around to keep an eye on things.

Similar to Brown and Providence, in the city where I did my undergrad degree, housing was hard to find and afford. After graduating, I stayed in the area, and at one point between apartments, I was homeless myself. I ended up living in what we called a "laundry room" in a small cooperative dorm in which people took turns cooking. (Maybe it was a former laundry room -- it had a bed & maybe a sink, but no washing machines.) I stayed there until the administrators in charge of the building found out I was there and told me I had to move on.

My guess is that the janitor who also saw CV hanging around the building at Brown knew damn well that John was living there and didn't care. I know it doesn't make Brown look good that a homeless alum was living in the basement of the engineering building, but such a situation is not unusual.

JMO

 

[OneLove]

Regarding homeless people living in university buildings, my own academic career included three universities. In two of them, there was someone living in our department. In the university where I was an undergrad, a tech worker lived in what in effect was their office. In the second university, a fellow grad student lived in the basement. We learned to say things like "so & so isn't here yet" instead of "so & so isn't up yet." It can be good having someone around to keep an eye on things.

Similar to Brown and Providence, in the city where I did my undergrad degree, housing was hard to find and afford. After graduating, I stayed in the area, and at one point between apartments, I was homeless myself. I ended up living in what we called a "laundry room" in a small cooperative dorm in which people took turns cooking. (Maybe it was a former laundry room -- it had a bed & no washing machines.) I stayed there until the administrators in charge of the building found out I was there and told me I had to move on.

My guess is that the janitor who also saw CV hanging around the building at Brown knew damn well that John was living there and didn't care. I know it doesn't make Brown look good that a homeless alum was living in the basement of the engineering building, but such a situation is not unusual.

JMO

Thx for your very real life story. My fil slept in the university library & ate breakfast of cereal kept high behind books and milk out of sight on windowsill. Was sent to the dean when caught, expecting expulsion. Instead dean told him its against the rules to sleep in university buildings then pointed out that his office window next to his sofa had a broken lock, wink wink. He slept there the rest of his degree program. He became a school principle, then school superintendent, then college president, then graduate school professor where I met him and married his son. His story has always been inspiring, as is yours.

 

[getthefax]

Regarding homeless people living in university buildings, my own academic career included three universities. In two of them, there was someone living in our department. In the university where I was an undergrad, a tech worker lived in what in effect was their office. In the second university, a fellow grad student lived in the basement. We learned to say things like "so & so isn't here yet" instead of "so & so isn't up yet." It can be good having someone around to keep an eye on things.

Similar to Brown and Providence, in the city where I did my undergrad degree, housing was hard to find and afford. After graduating, I stayed in the area, and at one point between apartments, I was homeless myself. I ended up living in what we called a "laundry room" in a small cooperative dorm in which people took turns cooking. (Maybe it was a former laundry room -- it had a bed & no washing machines.) I stayed there until the administrators in charge of the building found out I was there and told me I had to move on.

My guess is that the janitor who also saw CV hanging around the building at Brown knew damn well that John was living there and didn't care. I know it doesn't make Brown look good that a homeless alum was living in the basement of the engineering building, but such a situation is not unusual.

JMO

I can totally appreciate this! Thank you for sharing. I think that's what I am responding to here-- John may not be entirely down on his luck--he may just want a little privacy. Similar story here-- for a brief time I was a bit of a squatter in a campus greek house that I learned was vacant for the summer, so I took advantage of the nonexistent rent in what was otherwise an impossible housing market... I was not the only one! My school was huge and there were many of us hacking it out there.

 

[sunspun]

2 min ago

Two 9 mm Glocks, a bulletproof vest and a jacket recovered at Salem storage facility, source says​

From CNN's John Miller

Several pieces of evidence were found in two storage units that Brown University shooting suspect Claudio Neves Valente rented at the Salem, New Hampshire, storage facility where he was found dead, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said.

Pursuant to a search warrant, investigators recovered two 9 mm Glocks, one with a green laser device, as well as high capacity magazines and a bulletproof vest, the official said. They also found the jacket that was seen in videos and photos released by police earlier this week, according to the official.

Investigators believe, based on events, that Neves Valente was alive and moving up until some time on Thursday, the official added.

https://edition.cnn.com/us/live-news/brown-university-shooting-suspect-12-18-25?t=1766165891206

Why did he have two storage units rented in New Hampshire? I thought it was odd when I heard he had rented a storage unit there, but now, I see he had TWO, which I find even more odd. Was he moving to that area from Florida?

Had he already permanently moved away from Florida?

How did he get to the area of Brown University? Did he fly in to Boston, rent a car and drive to Brown? Did he fly there from Florida?

Have they said if the storage units had normal storage unit items in them? Like furniture etc? Or were they empty except for the few items LE reported finding, like his guns and jacket, etc.?

 

[sunspun]

After Neves Valente was identified as the suspect in both shootings, Noem ordered the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the diversity lottery immigrant visa program.

Under the program, up to 55,000 immigrants can enter the US each year from countries with low rates of immigration to the US, the State Department’s website says.

So what happens to the people who are already here on a diversity visa? Have they been ordered to leave the country or face deportation?

 

[BlaiseFinlay]

John may be able to write coherently and articulately. We know at one point he was on a successful conventional track. Maybe he's a recent grad trying to survive a rough patch on familiar ground, or perhaps his problems run deeper than that. He may straight up be a little crazy. Mental health and/or addiction are common factors in homelessness.

If John spends his time blending into campus crowd to quietly use the facilities etc. He needs to avoid being challenged, which means being very aware of whose around. Someone unfamiliar not acting like they belong would immediately catch his attention.

A shifty guy in the dishevelled clothes, using 'his' accessible bathroom might have looked like a new homeless guy turning up on his patch. John would want to run him off sharpish, especially if he was suspicious looking or might cause trouble. Drawing admin attention to homeless people on campus, would (f)uck up John's access.

Aggressively challenging him, and harassing him to the point of literally chasing him a few streets all crazy-like sounds like standard territorial homeless dude tactics.



I really hope that stepping up doesn't ultimately leave John in a situation where he's still on the street but looses his access to the facilities he relies on. He survives by being invisible on campus. Coming to media/police/admin attention strips him of that and might cost him what little safety and security he has.

He probably hoped someone on Reddit would pass on his tip for him so he could keep low. Even so, when the feds reached out he stepped up and was key to finding the guy.

It just would suck if he ended up in an even more precarious situation for doing the right thing.

Your thinking makes sense!

And I agree. All the more reason for him to get the reward — there are very real consequences to people for coming forward, and it makes sense to have a reward to compensate them for taking that risk.

 

[Cedars]

So what happens to the people who are already here on a diversity visa? Have they been ordered to leave the country or face deportation?

I can't say for sure, but they are not on temporary visas that can be revoked - they got their green cards/permanant residency right away.

 

[sunspun]

Good article that gives some more detail about how John - the homeless hero - encountered the shooter. Also, the information that John lived in the basement of the engineering building at the time.

Sources told Fox News that John had been living in the basement of the engineering building at the time.

What???

Like secretly living there?

Guess that's the end of that now, huh?

I wondered what he was doing in that building when he said he saw the shooter go in to the restroom and thought he looked like he didn't belong there... Then I think he said he waited at the exit of the building for him to come out of the bathroom, and when he did, that was when he started following him all around the streets where we've seen the shooter walking on video!

What made him so suspicious of CV being in that building? Especially when he himself wasn't actually "supposed" to be in there either! Was it just because CV was an older person? Do we know how old John is? From what I read, he was a college student at Brown also, "years ago", I believe it said.

 

[Lebowski]

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

lol, i kinda thought that at first, but i don't think so now. i doubt it'd be legally possible for him to sell their house, or practically possible for him to do it without them noticing.

and the article, as translated by google says this:

It was on the second floor of this building, in the Olivais neighborhood, that Cláudio Valente lived before going to the United States.

"His parents are from Entrocamento, and Cláudio was very well-liked here. ... "
...

"His parents came looking for him. He later sold the house and his parents didn't know. It was a heartbreak for his mother."

not sure, because stuff might be getting lost in translation and/or the article is a salad of possibly unrelated statements, but i think the idea is his parents stayed behind in Entrocamento and he was living in a condo in Lisbon while he was in school at IST. these quotations are from the perspective of people who live in lisbon and were CV's neighbors, and they say the parents "came looking" for him. sounds like the parents didn't live in the lisbon condo. anyway, maybe customs in portugal are different, but i've never heard of parents tagging along when a kid goes off to college. so... family home in Entrocamento and condo for CV in Lisbon.

assuming that, when the neighbor says he "sold the house" without his parents knowing, it seems likely it's the condo he sold, and not the family home they were living in, in Entrocamento.

 

[Lebowski]

I can totally appreciate this! Thank you for sharing. I think that's what I am responding to here-- John may not be entirely down on his luck--he may just want a little privacy. Similar story here-- for a brief time I was a bit of a squatter in a campus greek house that I learned was vacant for the summer, so I took advantage of the nonexistent rent in what was otherwise an impossible housing market... I was not the only one! My school was huge and there were many of us hacking it out there.

ok, guys, let's just admit that we've all been homeless and still are. no one can afford a place to live anymore.

 

[Warwick1991]

Why did he have two storage units rented in New Hampshire? I thought it was odd when I heard he had rented a storage unit there, but now, I see he had TWO, which I find even more odd. Was he moving to that area from Florida?

Had he already permanently moved away from Florida?

How did he get to the area of Brown University? Did he fly in to Boston, rent a car and drive to Brown? Did he fly there from Florida?

Have they said if the storage units had normal storage unit items in them? Like furniture etc? Or were they empty except for the few items LE reported finding, like his guns and jacket, etc.?

Here's another article that states that CV died on Tuesday. Only one storage unit is mentioned, not two. Apparently, CV visited a shooting range in NH - possibly for shooting practice.

AG: Suspect in Brown, MIT shootings may have been dead for days

Law enforcement officials identified the gunman in the mass shooting at Brown University and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor as a 48-year-old Portuguese national who was a student at the Providence school.

www.wcvb.com

 

[getthefax]

ok, guys, let's just admit that we've all been homeless and still are. no one can afford a place to live anymore.

The terrified emoji was the best I could come up with-- the closest thing to laughing and crying that the menu had :-/

 

[getthefax]

Here's another article that states that CV died on Tuesday. Only one storage unit is mentioned, not two. Apparently, CV visited a shooting range in NH - possibly for shooting practice.

AG: Suspect in Brown, MIT shootings may have been dead for days

Law enforcement officials identified the gunman in the mass shooting at Brown University and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor as a 48-year-old Portuguese national who was a student at the Providence school.

www.wcvb.com

Great find! this news bit says that in addition to the 2 weapons he had, he also was in possession of 3 USB drives and $900 in cash, but so far did not have any list of other targets or anything like that.

 

[Charlot123]

.

I thought it was very touching in his last Reddit comment, in his last sentence he says compassionately: “Hopefully you all are able to enjoy the holidays with your family and loved ones but if you are not may the following days treat you kindly.” That was before we knew he was homeless, so it reads differently now. I hope he can now have a better Christmas than he thought he would, and his life changes for the better.

So this is how i view it practically.

John saved so much money for all LE and security organizations of this country. It is very likely that he also saved them money on lawsuits because they already made one wrong accusation, and could have made more. He saved the time and... a lot of other things.

Also, it is possible that he saved other people's lives. Because appetite comes with eating. Claudio could have returned back to Miami, remembered some other people who "wronged him", and be back on his "revenge for envy" path.

If besides 50K which John fully deserves, these powerful organizations can't help him with a condo in Providence, given that the housing market is going down, I'd be surprised.

And of course, G-F-M and we'll help, but this will be "thank you" from us the community, a very different thing.

JMO.

 

[LAborn]

What???

Like secretly living there?

Guess that's the end of that now, huh?

I wondered what he was doing in that building when he said he saw the shooter go in to the restroom and thought he looked like he didn't belong there... Then I think he said he waited at the exit of the building for him to come out of the bathroom, and when he did, that was when he started following him all around the streets where we've seen the shooter walking on video!

What made him so suspicious of CV being in that building? Especially when he himself wasn't actually "supposed" to be in there either! Was it just because CV was an older person? Do we know how old John is? From what I read, he was a college student at Brown also, "years ago", I believe it said.

It's been said that John is a Brown alum...it basically is his home therefore he would be very aware of the comings and goings, and what didn't belong.

"The affidavit says John gave investigators additional critical details: He encountered Neves Valente in the bathroom of the engineering building hours before the attack, where John noted the suspect’s clothing was “inappropriate and inadequate for the weather.”

John then saw Neves Valente outside, blocks from the building, and watched Neves Valente “suddenly” turn around from the Nissan when he saw John. What ensued was a “game of cat and mouse,” according to John’s testimony — the two would encounter each other and Neves Valente would run away.

At one point, John says he yelled out, “Your car is back there, why are you circling the block?”

“The Suspect responded, ‘I don’t know you from nobody,’ then Suspect repeatedly asked, ’Why are you harassing me?’” according to the affidavit.

John told police he eventually saw Neves Valente approach the Nissan sedan once more and decided to walk away."

John also got the make of the car and saw Florida plates, he also looked in the window, I believe. How a Reddit user’s strange encounter cracked the Brown University shooting case