Brown, MIT professor shootings timeline: What we know about the suspect and the investigation

Claudio Manuel Neves Valente was in Providence for two weeks before he opened fire on an auditorium of Brown University students studying for a final exam. Two days later, as investigators scrambled for leads, police say Neves Valente fatally shot an MIT professor at his Brookline home.

Initially, investigators said they did not believe the shootings were connected and struggled to uncover a break in either case for days. But then, late Thursday, the search for the shooter ended dramatically when federal agents found Neves Valente dead from a self-inflicted gunshot in a storage unit in New Hampshire.

Below is a timeline of what happened, as described in an arrest warrant affidavit for Neves Valente and by other authorities, including U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley, Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and Brown University President Christina Paxson.

1995-2000: Neves Valente attends Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal, studying for a degree in engineering physics. The school confirmed MIT professor Nuno Loureiro and Neves Valente graduated the same year.

Aug. 23, 2000: Neves Valente moves to the U.S. with an F-1 student visa. He flies into Logan Airport in Boston.

Fall 2000 - Spring 2001: Neves Valente attends Brown University for a doctoral program in physics. He takes a leave of absence before withdrawing in 2003.

Brown president Paxson says he only took physics classes, which were typically held in the Barus and Holley building, where Saturday’s shooting took place. “Safe to assume that this man, when he was a student, spent a great deal of time in that building for classes and other activities,” Paxson said.

May 10, 2017: Neves Valente receives a diversity immigrant visa to the U.S. Months later, on Sept. 14, he flies into New York and is lawfully admitted as a legal permanent resident.

Nov. 28 and Dec. 1 – A Brown custodian sees a suspicious person resembling Neves Valente on campus on these dates. The person's clothes, along with a surgical mask, matched those that Neves Valente wore the day of the shooting. The custodian later told police that on one date the suspicious person went into a ground-level bathroom across from the auditorium where the shooting later took place. Surveillance footage from Dec. 1 showed what appeared to be Neves Valente.

Dec. 1 at 11:36 a.m.: Neves Valente rents a grey Nissan Sentra at Alamo Rent a Car in downtown Boston. The car had a Florida license plate: 62DQEV.

Dec. 1 – Automated license plate readers spot a Nissan Sentra with Florida plate 62DQEV in the area of the shooting.

Friday, Dec. 12, 8:14 a.m. – A license plate reader camera captures the Nissan with Florida plates at N. Main Street and Randall in Providence and a short time later near the Brown campus.

8:43 a.m. – The suspect appears to be casing the area and is spotted around Manning and Cooke streets. He’s captured on video surveillance as late as 2:52 p.m.

1:45 - 2 p.m. - A witness identified only as “John” in the affidavit encounters Neves Valente in a ground-floor bathroom by the Barus and Holley building entrance, according to an account he tells Providence police days later. John watches Neves Valente exit the building to the parking lot, then follows him up Manning Street. John next encounters him near the Rhode Island Historical Society building. Neves Valente approaches a grey sedan with a Florida plate, the lights lit up, as if being unlocked, but then he turns and walks in the other direction. John tells police later that Neves Valente “looked at [him] like he knew [him].” Neves Valente loops back, but keeps switching directions whenever he sees John, who keeps following him. John told police it felt like a “game of cat and mouse.” John reaches Neves Valente and asks him, “Your car is back there, why are you circling the block?” Neves Valente responds “I don’t know you from nobody,” and asks “Why are you harassing me?” John walks away.

2 p.m. – An exam review session begins for the popular Principles of Economics course inside the Barus and Holley building.

3:15 p.m. – Neves Valente is seen on camera walking along streets within one to three blocks of the Barus and Holley building.

4:03 p.m. – Neves Valente walks into the classroom and fires at least 44 shots from a 9mm handgun. He wounds nine and kills two students, Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and Ella Cook.

4:05 p.m. – Neves Valente is seen walking away from the Barus and Holley building, as captured on video from a Brown shuttle bus.

4:06 p.m. – Providence police respond to calls of an active shooter.

Between Dec. 13-14 - Neves Valente returns to Massachusetts, according to Mass. U.S. Attorney Foley.

Sunday, Dec. 14 – Investigators in Rhode Island announce they have a person of interest in custody. He is later released after investigators say DNA excludes him and he has no connection to the shooting.

Monday, Dec. 15, 8:30 p.m. – MIT professor Nuno Loureiro is shot at his home at 9 Gibbs St. in Brookline. He dies at the hospital the next morning. The FBI in Boston initially says investigators do not know of any connection between Loureiro’s homicide and the Brown shooting.

At some point after Loureiro’s killing, Neves Valente switches license plates to an unregistered Maine plate that had been out of use for over a decade. Neves Valente drives to a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, where he had rented a unit in November. Foley said he entered the storage facility one hour after the shooting in Brookline.

Tuesday, Dec. 16, 8:30 a.m. – “John” creates a Reddit post on the Providence subreddit about his Dec. 13 encounter with Neves Valente. He says police should look into a grey Nissan with Florida plates that had been parked near the Rhode Island Historical Society. An anonymous person sends the post to a tip line. Investigators review surveillance video and find the Nissan in the images.

Neves Valente dies by suicide, according to New Hampshire’s attorney general’s office. His body won't be found for two more days.

Wednesday, Dec. 17 – A man, who identified himself as the Reddit poster and the person police are calling "John," approaches Providence police and says he wants to talk about his interactions with a man he believes is the suspect. John describes the suspect’s complexion and clothes, saying he was dressed inappropriately for the weather. He tells police he recognizes one of the images released to the press as the person he encountered. He says he believes an image of a vehicle officers show him resembles the sedan he saw.

Investigators request video surveillance from the Boston Alamo Rent a Car. The video shows Neves Valente wearing a bright blue shirt authorities later say matches what he wore on Dec. 13.

Thursday, Dec. 18 – Investigators secure an arrest warrant for Neves Valente, accusing him of murder and a litany of related charges. The U.S. attorney's office for Massachusetts files a criminal complaint under seal.

Thursday, Dec. 18, 9 p.m. – Federal agents enter a storage locker in Salem, New Hampshire. They find Neves Valente dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an empty unit next to one he rented. Police say he was found with a satchel and two firearms.