Former Classmates Describe Claudio Manuel Neves Valente as Brilliant Yet Arrogant in Brown University Shooting and MIT Professor Killing 2025
Providence, Rhode Island – As investigators continue piecing together the motives behind a deadly shooting rampage at Brown University and the separate killing of an MIT professor, former classmates of the suspect, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, are painting a complex picture of a man who was undeniably smart but often abrasive and hard to get along with.
The 48-year-old Portuguese national, who authorities say carried out the attacks before taking his own life, had a history tied to both institutions through his academic past. Neves Valente briefly attended Brown as a physics graduate student around 2000-2001, only to leave abruptly after clashing with peers and expressing frustration with the program. Years earlier, from 1995 to 2000, he studied alongside the slain MIT professor, Nuno Loureiro, at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal – a connection that now looms large in the case.
Classmates from those days remember Neves Valente as someone who stood out academically but struggled socially. One former peer, now a university teacher in Lisbon, recalled how he had an intense need to prove he was the smartest in the room. “He was obviously one of the best, but he liked to argue unnecessarily and make sure everyone knew it,” the classmate shared. “It created tension – those kinds of quarrels didn’t help anyone.”
Another described him as more theoretical and confrontational compared to Loureiro, who was seen as relaxed and well-liked despite also being a strong student. At Brown, a fellow grad student who briefly befriended him noted his volatility: Neves Valente complained bitterly about classes being too easy (though he mastered them quickly), professors, even everyday things like food and living conditions. He could turn angry fast, and on at least one occasion, someone had to intervene in a heated argument he started with another student.
These recollections add a human layer to a tragedy that shocked elite academic circles. The violence began with a mass shooting inside Brown’s Barus and Holley engineering building on December 13, 2025, claiming the lives of two students and wounding nine others. Just days later, on December 15, acclaimed plasma physicist Nuno Loureiro was fatally shot in his Brookline, Massachusetts home.
Neves Valente, who had returned to the U.S. in 2017 after winning a diversity immigrant visa (commonly known as the green card lottery) and becoming a permanent resident, was tracked through surveillance, license plate data, and tips. He was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a New Hampshire storage unit on December 18 – estimated to have died around December 16 – bringing a sudden end to the manhunt.
The case has sparked broader conversations, including the Trump administration’s swift decision to pause the diversity visa lottery program, citing Neves Valente’s entry through it as a security concern. Yet for those who knew him decades ago, the path from a promising young physicist to alleged killer remains baffling and heartbreaking.
“I never imagined he could do something like this,” one old classmate admitted, echoing the disbelief felt across two continents. As families grieve and campuses heal, these stories from the past remind us how unresolved frustrations can simmer for years – and sometimes erupt in ways no one sees coming.
The investigation into the Claudio Manuel Neves Valente Brown University shooting and MIT professor Nuno Loureiro killing December 2025 continues, with authorities exploring any lingering questions about motive tied to those long-ago academic ties.
