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

[indicolite22]

Automatic translation:

After leaving Brown University (USA), where he was unable to complete his postgraduate studies, Cláudio Valente returned to Portugal and worked in two different periods at the website Sapo.pt.
...
His colleagues describe him as a genius in the field of computer science as well. They recall that he maintained a good working relationship and was introspective.

Cláudio Valente era aluno exemplar em Torres Novas - Portugal - Correio da Manhã

É suspeito da morte de dois estudantes da Universidade Brown, EUA, e também do homicídio do professor do MIT, Nuno Loureiro.

www.cmjornal.pt

 

[indicolite22]

“His mother said this morning that she had always worried that the next time she would hear about him, he would be dead,” Mirita Domingues, a relative, told the Times.
...
Neves Valente stopped communicating with his well-to-do family in Portugal shortly after his stint at Brown, kin told the New York Times.
...
The murderer grew up outside of Lisbon and was a happy-go-lucky kid, Domingues said.

Here’s why Claudio Neves Valente may have targeted Brown U., MIT professor

“I had to break up a fight once” between” the killer and another Brown student, a former pal said.

nypost.com

What happened between him and his parents?

 

[indicolite22]

His former coworker at Sapo paints a different picture of the suspect (translated):

“Cláudio Valente? How?? Wow, he was a sweetheart”
...
She begins by saying that she liked Cláudio very much, with whom she worked "twice, the first time starting in 2001, for about five or six years, and then again later. Because he left and then came back. He was a developer, that is, he wrote the code to program SAPO's services."
...
She often asked developers to explain technical things she didn't understand at all, and that Cláudio always had the patience to do so. “He was absolutely brilliant, with extraordinary intelligence, but very kind and extraordinarily approachable. He was very patient and explained things. He was a very good person. A sweetheart, truly. And everyone who worked with him at Sapo says that, that he was approachable and kind.”
...
Furthermore, she recalls, "he had a very sharp sense of humor."

She adds that nobody knew anything about his private life. He didn't socialize with his coworkers.

“O Cláudio Valente? Como?? Fónix, ele era um doce”

“Alguém sabe explicar? Quem é que esteve com ele pela última vez?”A pergunta correu no grupo de Whatsapp de colegas e ex-colegas do Portal SAPO, esta manhã, ant

www.dn.pt

 

[Charlot123]

“Unusual barking noise” before he started shooting.

Brown University shooter ‘made a barking noise’ as he gunned down students in classroom, witnesses told cops

The suspect in the Brown University mass shooting apparently made bizarre “barking” noises just before he opened fire and killed two Ivy League students, officials said. Some witnesses …

nypost.com

Tics, perhaps?

 

[wibbleflea]

He was a developer, that is, he wrote the code to program SAPO's services.

Exactly the sort of thing I’d have expected.

A few earlier posts compared CV to Kohberger. Both were found to be insufferable and arrogant by some. Both ended up being killers. But intellectually, CV was on a different level. (Read BK’s writing and you’ll know what I mean.)

The true tragedies of this case were the deaths of three people, along with the injured and the traumatised students, family and friends.

There’s another tragedy, too: that a man as gifted as this should end up killing. So few people could do what CV could but his flaws overcame his remarkable strengths and caused so much suffering.

 

[Charlot123]

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

It absolutely makes Brown look good.

Several years before Covid, housing prices in Washington state became asinine. The building where I worked in at that time was in a nice area, but it was all commercial. I remember people warning to be careful and lock the doors as there were homeless seen around, whatnot.

Well, I met one of these homeless. A man over fifty, intelligent and articulate, dressed in a coat that had seen better days but used to be nice at one point. He was lying inside the building, on the logs surrounding an artificial flower bed. He apologized for being there. I said he could definitely stay and brought out a pillow and a blanket and persuaded him to sleep as I was working late. When I was leaving in a few hours, he was gone, all the stuff I gave him accurately folded. I didn’t know where to put him professionally, but IMHO he could be a tester, an engineer or a teacher who lost a job. Anyone can run into bad times.

If the Gubbio project in California offers space inside St. Boniface church for the homeless to sleep, and it is considered a good deed, why should we judge anyone who allowed a known Brown alumnus who ran into hard times to sleep inside? Providence gets cold in the winter, it is a human thing to do so, IMHO. Sort of “the Brown community treated him well, and he paid back to the community”.

JMO.

 

[sunspun]

It absolutely makes Brown look good.

Several years before Covid, housing prices in Washington state became asinine. The building where I worked in at that time was in a nice area, but it was all commercial. I remember people warning to be careful and lock the doors as there were homeless seen around, whatnot.

Well, I met one of these homeless. A man over fifty, intelligent and articulate, dressed in a coat that had seen better days but used to be nice at one point. He was lying inside the building, on the logs surrounding an artificial flower bed. He apologized for being there. I said he could definitely stay and brought out a pillow and a blanket and persuaded him to sleep as I was working late. When I was leaving in a few hours, he was gone, all the stuff I gave him accurately folded. I didn’t know where to put him professionally, but IMHO he could be a tester, an engineer or a teacher who lost a job. Anyone can run into bad times.

If the Gubbio project in California offers space inside St. Boniface church for the homeless to sleep, and it is considered a good deed, why should we judge anyone who allowed a known Brown alumnus who ran into hard times to sleep inside? Providence gets cold in the winter, it is a human thing to do so, IMHO. Sort of “the Brown community treated him well, and he paid back to the community”.

JMO.

Except that I was under the impression that the university didn't know he was staying in the basement, and in fact, that if they had known, they would have put a stop to it. Which would negate any attribution of altruism on their part.

Did I understand that wrong? Was this living arrangement known and approved of by someone in authority at the University?

I wouldn't have expected that to be something they'd ever allow.

How did we happen to know about it anyway? Did John himself tell the media? That seems like an odd thing for him to do, if so. Wonder how long he's been staying there ...

 

[Charlot123]

Except that I was under the impression that the university didn't know he was staying in the basement, and in fact, that if they had known, they would have put a stop to it. Which would negate any attribution of altruism on their part.

Did I understand that wrong? Was this living arrangement known and approved of by someone in authority at the University?

I wouldn't have expected that to be something they'd ever allow.

How did we happen to know about it anyway? Did John himself tell the media? That seems like an odd thing for him to do, if so. Wonder how long he's been staying there ...

Maybe I didn’t understand it correctly, one poster said that John living in the basement makes Brown look bad. I thought they were blaming Brown. I don’t know anything about the situation.

The way I see it: many years ago, there was a huge snowstorm in Boston and six homeless people were turned away from the emergency rooms and died of hypothermia. The Boston Globe made a scathing review of that situation. Knowing the winter forecast, I just can’t imagine throwing an alumnus who is probably trying to find a job out into the street. This is what would make Brown look bad.

Anyway, hope Reddit posts G-F-M or a better trusted way. I know there are ways for people to donate for professional edits of photos there. This guy has raised Reddit’s reputation. too.

 

[Charlot123]

His former coworker at Sapo paints a different picture of the suspect (translated):

“Cláudio Valente? How?? Wow, he was a sweetheart”
...
She begins by saying that she liked Cláudio very much, with whom she worked "twice, the first time starting in 2001, for about five or six years, and then again later. Because he left and then came back. He was a developer, that is, he wrote the code to program SAPO's services."
...
She often asked developers to explain technical things she didn't understand at all, and that Cláudio always had the patience to do so. “He was absolutely brilliant, with extraordinary intelligence, but very kind and extraordinarily approachable. He was very patient and explained things. He was a very good person. A sweetheart, truly. And everyone who worked with him at Sapo says that, that he was approachable and kind.”
...
Furthermore, she recalls, "he had a very sharp sense of humor."

She adds that nobody knew anything about his private life. He didn't socialize with his coworkers.

“O Cláudio Valente? Como?? Fónix, ele era um doce”

“Alguém sabe explicar? Quem é que esteve com ele pela última vez?”A pergunta correu no grupo de Whatsapp de colegas e ex-colegas do Portal SAPO, esta manhã, ant

www.dn.pt

I don’t believe that “brilliance” (or getting grades better that Nuno) means that much, if anything. You all know Thomas Edison’s quote, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration”, and maybe CV lacked in work ethics.

It fits that CV was the only child. When he went to the university, he probably cut off tight umbilical cord instead of stretching it.

Also, I think that in 2001, he made the right decision to switch over to IT.

Academic career means, not much money, competition, a lot of hard work and dependence on grants. Nuno Loureiro was lucky, with his work, he got MIT professorship, fame and publications. But it is always a risk, and financially, Claudio’s decision in 2001 could have looked sounder. I don’t know what was happening to CV in 2010es, but the real problem could have started with winning that green card lottery. The timing was wrong. The green card kept him in the US for over 6 months of a year, and there were no remote works yet in 2017. So he likely had to quit his job in Portugal. I assume that he planned to get into IT sector in the US, but he was in his 40-es, from another country, and not a team player. But the main issue, the downturn in technical sector, had essentially started with COVID, everywhere. I’d guess that he ended up in the same boat with some programmers but in a new country. And, no connections, no friends, no social network.

So it could have been all to his story. He could have made some nest egg, but “always on the phone”, might indicate some form of ludomania or other compulsive behavior draining out one’s money.

He lived here for several years and did not commit homicidal acts. So, either inability to find a good job and hopelessness or perhaps, a new illness or all of it. And then it goes back to “where did it go wrong?” And he starts finding blame with others.

 

[Charlot123]

“His mother said this morning that she had always worried that the next time she would hear about him, he would be dead,” Mirita Domingues, a relative, told the Times.
...
Neves Valente stopped communicating with his well-to-do family in Portugal shortly after his stint at Brown, kin told the New York Times.
...
The murderer grew up outside of Lisbon and was a happy-go-lucky kid, Domingues said.

Here’s why Claudio Neves Valente may have targeted Brown U., MIT professor

“I had to break up a fight once” between” the killer and another Brown student, a former pal said.

nypost.com

What happened between him and his parents?

You want a random guess? The only child, “a genius”, the father with similar traits + an anxious, overprotective mother. CV probably wanted to shake them off, to date and have friends and when it didn’t work well socially in the university, he blamed his parents, whom else?

 

[indicolite22]

You want a random guess? The only child, “a genius”, the father with similar traits + an anxious, overprotective mother. CV probably wanted to shake them off, to date and have friends and when it didn’t work well socially in the university, he blamed his parents, whom else?

So far nobody gave any indication that he had (or tried to have) a social life. He kept to himself in school and at work. To cut off his parents seems extreme. Were they controlling?

 

[indicolite22]

I don’t believe that “brilliance” (or getting grades better that Nuno) means that much, if anything. You all know Thomas Edison’s quote, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration”, and maybe CV lacked in work ethics.

It fits that CV was the only child. When he went to the university, he probably cut off tight umbilical cord instead of stretching it.

Also, I think that in 2001, he made the right decision to switch over to IT.

Academic career means, not much money, competition, a lot of hard work and dependence on grants. Nuno Loureiro was lucky, with his work, he got MIT professorship, fame and publications. But it is always a risk, and financially, Claudio’s decision in 2001 could have looked sounder. I don’t know what was happening to CV in 2010es, but the real problem could have started with winning that green card lottery. The timing was wrong. The green card kept him in the US for over 6 months of a year, and there were no remote works yet in 2017. So he likely had to quit his job in Portugal. I assume that he planned to get into IT sector in the US, but he was in his 40-es, from another country, and not a team player. But the main issue, the downturn in technical sector, had essentially started with COVID, everywhere. I’d guess that he ended up in the same boat with some programmers but in a new country. And, no connections, no friends, no social network.

So it could have been all to his story. He could have made some nest egg, but “always on the phone”, might indicate some form of ludomania or other compulsive behavior draining out one’s money.

He lived here for several years and did not commit homicidal acts. So, either inability to find a good job and hopelessness or perhaps, a new illness or all of it. And then it goes back to “where did it go wrong?” And he starts finding blame with others.

He was a child prodigy who acquired knowledge earlier and/or faster than his colleagues, which showed in his grades. As a result, he probably felt entitled to be given certain opportunities (e.g. a TA job or a research position). Obviously he wasn't happy ending up in IT, otherwise he wouldn't have targeted NL. IMO he was envious of his level of success and recognition. NL also had a family. CV somehow thought that if there wasn't for NL, his life would have turned out better.

 

[indicolite22]

Suspect in Brown and M.I.T. Killings Was a Brilliant Student. Then He Vanished.​

The link above is from the New York Times, so paywalled, of course, but this brief excerpt from the article stood out:

..."in the post, Mr. Neves Valente wrote in Portuguese: 'The greatest liar is the one who is able to lie to themselves. These exist everywhere, but they sometimes proliferate in the most unexpected places.'"

Self-fulfilling prophecy, it seems. JMO.

I think that was his parting shot at Brown. He addressed his classmates and also left a contact email address. Who did he accuse of lying to themselves?

 

[justtrish]

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

I wonder if he rented one unit, but he was found deceased in another one. I know I read an article stating that somewhere. He wasn't' in his unit so they had to search the facility, and they found him in an unoccupied unit. Maybe that is where the evidence found in 2 units came from and he actually only rented one, but he was found in another??

 

[LAborn]

I think that was his parting shot at Brown. He addressed his classmates and also left a contact email address. Who did he accuse of lying to themselves?

If I had to guess all the people and institutions that present themselves as elite or above it all. CV was the top of his class, he was a stand out, but he saw NL go on to achieve the most coveted positions (NL was bright, but not as bright as CV). CV was vocal about his experience at Brown--that the classes were easy and he already knew the information. But Brown is ranked top Ivy league in the US, but he found it easy. He perceived these as "lies" probably. To be clear, these views make zero sense for what he ended up doing. No justification. Irrational.
JMO

 

[99cats]

I don’t believe that “brilliance” (or getting grades better that Nuno) means that much, if anything. You all know Thomas Edison’s quote, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration”, and maybe CV lacked in work ethics.

It fits that CV was the only child. When he went to the university, he probably cut off tight umbilical cord instead of stretching it.

Also, I think that in 2001, he made the right decision to switch over to IT.

Academic career means, not much money, competition, a lot of hard work and dependence on grants. Nuno Loureiro was lucky, with his work, he got MIT professorship, fame and publications. But it is always a risk, and financially, Claudio’s decision in 2001 could have looked sounder. I don’t know what was happening to CV in 2010es, but the real problem could have started with winning that green card lottery. The timing was wrong. The green card kept him in the US for over 6 months of a year, and there were no remote works yet in 2017. So he likely had to quit his job in Portugal. I assume that he planned to get into IT sector in the US, but he was in his 40-es, from another country, and not a team player. But the main issue, the downturn in technical sector, had essentially started with COVID, everywhere. I’d guess that he ended up in the same boat with some programmers but in a new country. And, no connections, no friends, no social network.

So it could have been all to his story. He could have made some nest egg, but “always on the phone”, might indicate some form of ludomania or other compulsive behavior draining out one’s money.

He lived here for several years and did not commit homicidal acts. So, either inability to find a good job and hopelessness or perhaps, a new illness or all of it. And then it goes back to “where did it go wrong?” And he starts finding blame with others.

Do we know for certain he wasn't employed while in the US? Remote work was definitely around in 2017, especially in IT, although not to the extent we see it today.

I wonder if what set him off was Prof. Loureiro becoming the chair of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center in 2024 or the
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers this year. CV may have found out about it after the fact, or - horrifyingly - he might have spent almost a year or even more planning the attack.

 

[Yellowbelly]

Automatic translation:

After leaving Brown University (USA), where he was unable to complete his postgraduate studies, Cláudio Valente returned to Portugal and worked in two different periods at the website Sapo.pt.
...
His colleagues describe him as a genius in the field of computer science as well. They recall that he maintained a good working relationship and was introspective.

Cláudio Valente era aluno exemplar em Torres Novas - Portugal - Correio da Manhã

É suspeito da morte de dois estudantes da Universidade Brown, EUA, e também do homicídio do professor do MIT, Nuno Loureiro.

www.cmjornal.pt

From a different article on the same website -

"He cut ties with his parents, who remained in Torres Novas, dropped out of university, and between 2006 and 2013 worked for the Sapo platform."

So that takes the timeline to 2013. We know he went back to Portugal and had a series of decent IT/computer programming jobs up to 2013. After that, things are still a blank.

Génio da física mata ex-colega Nuno Loureiro por ódio

Cláudio e Nuno estudaram no Técnico. Ambos emigraram para a América. Nuno teve sucesso. Cláudio, não.

www.cmjornal.pt

 

[Lebowski]

I don’t believe that “brilliance” (or getting grades better that Nuno) means that much, if anything. You all know Thomas Edison’s quote, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration”, and maybe CV lacked in work ethics.

It fits that CV was the only child. When he went to the university, he probably cut off tight umbilical cord instead of stretching it.

...

bbm

yeah, here's one more anecdote from my university physics experience. a prof told us the department had done a study on their former phd graduates and looked at how they ended up performing later in their careers as a function of several things, including the number of attempts they needed to pass the qualifier. (for those who don't know, the qualifier is a very, very, VERY hard exam you have to pass as part of a phd program. at my old department at least, you are allowed 3 chances.) their students who passed on the first attempt went on to do OK, but were generally not standouts. it's the ones who needed two attempts that tended to be the real stars in their field. the interpretation of the results was that the first-timers were so smart they had never been forced to work hard, and therefore never learned to. the difference in habits went on to pay off for the second-timers. all on average of course, not hard rules.

Also, I think that in 2001, he made the right decision to switch over to IT.

Academic career means, not much money, competition, a lot of hard work and dependence on grants. Nuno Loureiro was lucky, with his work, he got MIT professorship, fame and publications. But it is always a risk, and financially, Claudio’s decision in 2001 could have looked sounder. I don’t know what was happening to CV in 2010es, but the real problem could have started with winning that green card lottery. The timing was wrong. The green card kept him in the US for over 6 months of a year, and there were no remote works yet in 2017. So he likely had to quit his job in Portugal. I assume that he planned to get into IT sector in the US, but he was in his 40-es, from another country, and not a team player. But the main issue, the downturn in technical sector, had essentially started with COVID, everywhere. I’d guess that he ended up in the same boat with some programmers but in a new country. And, no connections, no friends, no social network.

So it could have been all to his story. He could have made some nest egg, but “always on the phone”, might indicate some form of ludomania or other compulsive behavior draining out one’s money.

He lived here for several years and did not commit homicidal acts. So, either inability to find a good job and hopelessness or perhaps, a new illness or all of it. And then it goes back to “where did it go wrong?” And he starts finding blame with others.

tech industries have taken a hit after interest rates went up starting ~2022. investment capital is not as loose as before, and a lot of companies have had layoffs or at least stopped hiring. that might be playing a role here.

 

[wibbleflea]

We know he went back to Portugal and had a series of decent IT/computer programming jobs up to 2013. After that, things are still a blank.

I’m guessing we’ll get some new information over the next few days and weeks and then longer, in-depth pieces and perhaps books that attempt to tell the whole story. Wouldn’t be surprised to see cryptocurrency make an appearance in CV’s career somewhere.

Still struggling to work out how it came to this madness. Alcohol or drug dependency?

 

[Sundog]

“His mother said this morning that she had always worried that the next time she would hear about him, he would be dead,” Mirita Domingues, a relative, told the Times.
...
Neves Valente stopped communicating with his well-to-do family in Portugal shortly after his stint at Brown, kin told the New York Times.
...
The murderer grew up outside of Lisbon and was a happy-go-lucky kid, Domingues said.

Here’s why Claudio Neves Valente may have targeted Brown U., MIT professor

“I had to break up a fight once” between” the killer and another Brown student, a former pal said.

nypost.com

What happened between him and his parents?

How sad for his parents, not to see their son for two decades and then to hear of his murderous rampage. And I read somewhere in an article on this forum that he was their only child.