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

[justtrish]

CNN interviewed CV's neighbors from the time he was a student at IST. According to former neighbors, CV lived in their apartment building and was reclusive. He cut his parents off and even changed the locks to the apartment, which he later sold without his parents' knowledge. They would come to visit him, but he wouldn't open the door. At times they would hide near the apartment, hoping to see him. On one occasion they came with firefighters and police, checking if something happened to him. He was not home and was very upset by the incident. His mother got the information from the neighbors about his well being. She stated that her son needed help but didn't want to get it.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/22/europe/claudio-neves-valente-brown-university-portugal-neighbors-latam-intl

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/23/world/video/brown-university-shooter-portugal-claudio-neves-valente-vrtc-ldn-digvid

I wonder what was his grudge against his parents?

Yikes, this definitely sounds like he had something going on that his parents recognized and wanted him to get help for, but he refused. That something could be what also caused him to do what he did or at least maybe that underlying issue contributed to him being able to carry out such an awful attack with so much planning and preparation. IMO

 

[steeltowngirl]

(NewsNation) — Professor Scott Watson, a former friend and classmate of Brown shooting suspect Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, says the alleged shooter was “very bitter” during their days at the Ivy League school.

[…]
“He was very bitter,” Watson remembered. “He thought he knew more than everybody else. The sad part about that is he did … he could have already had a PhD.

“We had another classmate who was Brazilian, and as you know, Portugal had a slave colony in Brazil,” Watson said. “So, he would refer to this student, as he walked in, as ‘the slave.’ And one day it escalated to a fighting match that I had to break up.”

Watson told NewsNation he did not know Loureiro but suggested his motive may have been due to a “rivalry” between Valente and the MIT professor.

Brown shooting suspect called classmate a ‘slave’: Former friend

Valente, 48, a Portuguese national, is also the suspect in the murder of an MIT professor, whom he studied alongside in Portugal.

newsnationnow.com

 

[steeltowngirl]

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[indicolite22]

CV should have listened to this NL's 2018 speech On failure. "The most important thing is how you deal with failure." NL's point is that every failure is a learning moment.

 

[Muddy K]

In thinking about this case - and JMO - it seems probable to me that CV would have wanted to make sure that NL knew that he, CV, was the Brown University shooter. Cascade of horrors kind of thing.

In so many ways, despite his reclusive lifestyle and rejection of his family, this man craved attention.

 

[indicolite22]

There is no indication of animosity between CV and NL when they studied together at IST. With only 45 students in the class, they attended the same lectures but were not in the same group for practical work. CV achieved a higher grade than NL (19 versus 16). At the time, the program lasted five years and led to a bachelor's degree, which today would be considered equivalent to a master's degree. CV was invited to become a teaching assistant in his third year.

Their professional paths did not cross after IST, so the attack on NL seems to be (IMO) the result of jealousy that developed years, even decades, later. Since NL did not attend Brown, CV's resentment toward the school seems unrelated. NL never stood in the way of CV's success, but he was probably recognized as the most successful IST alum, which may have bothered CV.

CV's former classmates at IST considered him to be a normal person. They believe that mental health issues may have been a factor in the murders.

A história de dois universitários brilhantes que começou há 30 anos em Lisboa e acabou em tragédia nos EUA

Nuno Loureiro e Cláudio Valente frequentaram juntos o curso de Engenharia Física e Tecnológica. Mais de duas décadas depois, Cláudio Valente matou a tiro Nuno Loureiro. A filha da vítima assistiu a tudo. "John", um anónimo, ajudou a desvendar o caso

tvi.iol.pt

Brown shooting suspect: gruelling academic climate may have taken mental toll, say ex-classmates

Cláudio Valente and one of victims, Nuno FG Loureiro, both studied at notoriously challenging Técnico in Lisbon

www.theguardian.com

 

[LAborn]

There is no indication of animosity between CV and NL when they studied together at IST. With only 45 students in the class, they attended the same lectures but were not in the same group for practical work. CV achieved a higher grade than NL (19 versus 16). At the time, the program lasted five years and led to a bachelor's degree, which today would be considered equivalent to a master's degree. CV was invited to become a teaching assistant in his third year.

Their professional paths did not cross after IST, so the attack on NL seems to be (IMO) the result of jealousy that developed years, even decades, later. Since NL did not attend Brown, CV's resentment toward the school seems unrelated. NL never stood in the way of CV's success, but he was probably recognized as the most successful IST alum, which may have bothered CV.

CV's former classmates at IST considered him to be a normal person. They believe that mental health issues may have been a factor in the murders.

A história de dois universitários brilhantes que começou há 30 anos em Lisboa e acabou em tragédia nos EUA

Nuno Loureiro e Cláudio Valente frequentaram juntos o curso de Engenharia Física e Tecnológica. Mais de duas décadas depois, Cláudio Valente matou a tiro Nuno Loureiro. A filha da vítima assistiu a tudo. "John", um anónimo, ajudou a desvendar o caso

tvi.iol.pt

Brown shooting suspect: gruelling academic climate may have taken mental toll, say ex-classmates

Cláudio Valente and one of victims, Nuno FG Loureiro, both studied at notoriously challenging Técnico in Lisbon

www.theguardian.com

It's been mentioned that CV was the top of their class, higher than NL at the institute. Plus he won a bunch of coveted awards. At Brown, CV found the program and course work "easy" not challenging. Being labeled a top university, that must have been a let down. My theory is he resented both NL and Brown for presenting themselves as supreme when he knew they weren't. It's a strange thing to have a grudge about, but that's my sense. I don't think he's jealous as he could have done these things himself. Clearly, based on his actions, he was unwell. Being a loner and out of touch with his parents, he likely had no one to counter balance for his off kilter POV. There's a fine line between genius and madness.

 

[Lebowski]

with brown, i think there has to be more to it than the university not being up to his standards. that's not a reason to be mad, let alone to hold a grudge forever. it's not even a reason to leave. ...unless he was transferring to MIT or princeton or something, which he didn't.

maybe he failed the qualifier? even a brain like terry tao nearly failed his, out of (his words) arrogance and ill-preparation. it can happen even to the brightest ones. i'm sure brown lets you retake it a few times, but someone with a big, fragile ego might not have gotten over it psychologically. ... and given his belief that brown was beneath him, to have brown tell him "you're not good enough" would strike him as complete BS. similar to the reversal with NL, who probably seemed beneath CV in CV's opinion, and then went on to became a star in the field, while CV became a code monkey at the phone company.

or a girl dumped him. or something like that. idk. but i have to think something happened.

JMO of course

 

[Lebowski]

i also wonder a little if he'd had an idealized image of america, and when he got here, he discovered the people are pretty much the same as in portugal, and he hated new england's cold weather.

 

[Charlot123]

with brown, i think there has to be more to it than the university not being up to his standards. that's not a reason to be mad, let alone to hold a grudge forever. it's not even a reason to leave. ...unless he was transferring to MIT or princeton or something, which he didn't.

maybe he failed the qualifier? even a brain like terry tao nearly failed his, out of (his words) arrogance and ill-preparation. it can happen even to the brightest ones. i'm sure brown lets you retake it a few times, but someone with a big, fragile ego might not have gotten over it psychologically. ... and given his belief that brown was beneath him, to have brown tell him "you're not good enough" would strike him as complete BS. similar to the reversal with NL, who probably seemed beneath CV in CV's opinion, and then went on to became a star in the field, while CV became a code monkey at the phone company.

or a girl dumped him. or something like that. idk. but i have to think something happened.

JMO of course

I think there is a difference between “brilliant” and “achiever”. Take Einstein’s school grades and his contribution into science. Or, Richard Feynman’s IQ that, to believe him, was below Mensa’s level and his life achievement. “Brilliant” that we hear about CV might denominate a certain short-time functioning of his brain, but not necessarily the ability to perform in a long-range. It is too complicated. (Or perhaps, indeed, each episode of untreated mental illness took something away from CV.)

I would not be surprised if he failed the qualifier. Brown is a kind place and they do give people a second and a third chance but maybe due his lack of social skills, CV expected things to be handed out to him, and one has to communicate to the teachers and the professors and…well, to be nice. He probably never was.

 

[wibbleflea]

His ego could have been hurt simply by being treated as a regular student. The possibility of having to retake lower-level courses might have been enough, if this was the exact opposite of what he’d expected. Perhaps he really felt he’d be welcomed and recognised for being a genius-level student whose understanding and knowledge of the subject were exceptional. I’d be surprised if someone who’d graduated at the very top of his class at a prestigious and demanding school in Lisbon would have failed anything, unless it was through a refusal to participate.

The forum post he made on leaving – ‘happy now?’ – was probably directed at fellow students but there could have been similar feelings toward staff.

Could there have been a complaint made against CV for his behaviour at Brown? (I’m thinking of his attitude towards the Brazilian student. He’d have seen it as humour but it wouldn’t have been received that way.)

 

[Diddian]

I don't know what things were like at the time CV attended Brown, but many universities welcome international students because they pay significantly higher tuition than American students, thus effectively subsidizing American students. Was CV paying international student level tuition to attend Brown University? If so, he may possibly have believed Brown was "cheating" him financially by requiring he take classes he could likely challenge (i.e., avoid taking by passing a qualifying exam to demonstrate he had proficiency with the material). Perhaps that is why he dropped out, departed, and later committed the criminal acts there (irrational, to be sure, but motivating for a grudge-carrier). And also why he didn't continue graduate studies in the United States.

Was NL more affluent or more successful in challenging early courses once he attended school beyond Lisbon? So CV may have considered advanced programs rigged against him but in favor of NL?

 

[Lusitana]

I don't know what things were like at the time CV attended Brown, but many universities welcome international students because they pay significantly higher tuition than American students, thus effectively subsidizing American students. Was CV paying international student level tuition to attend Brown University? If so, he may possibly have believed Brown was "cheating" him financially by requiring he take classes he could likely challenge (i.e., avoid taking by passing a qualifying exam to demonstrate he had proficiency with the material). Perhaps that is why he dropped out, departed, and later committed the criminal acts there (irrational, to be sure, but motivating for a grudge-carrier). And also why he didn't continue graduate studies in the United States.

Was NL more affluent or more successful in challenging early courses once he attended school beyond Lisbon? So CV may have considered advanced programs rigged against him but in favor of NL?

His family was described as middle class by local media, so I can't see him affording Brown tuition on his own, nor could his family. Most likely scenario is him receiving some sort of financial aid/scholarship.