The suspect sought in connection with last weekend’s deadly shooting at Brown University in the United States has been found dead, authorities confirmed on Thursday.

Officials said the suspect, identified as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, was discovered dead at a storage facility in New Hampshire following a multi-state manhunt. Investigators believe Valente died by suicide. He was an former Brown University doctoral student, who had briefly studied at the university about 25 years ago.

Authorities stated that Valente was also the prime suspect in the killing of an MIT professor in Massachusetts two days after the Brown University attack. The victim was identified as Nuno F. G. Loureiro, who was fatally shot Monday night at the entrance of his apartment building in Brookline. Both Valente and Loureiro were reported to be Portuguese nationals who had studied in the same academic program in Portugal during the 1990s.

The shooting at Brown University resulted in the deaths of two students and left nine others injured. The victims were named as 19-year-old Ella Cook and 18-year-old Muhammad Aziz Umurzokov, who were attending a review session for an economics course when the attacker entered the classroom and opened fire. University officials said the building was open at the time due to ongoing exams.

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said the discovery of the suspect’s body would allow the community to “breathe a little easier.” Investigators noted that evidence suggests Valente acted alone and took deliberate steps before and after the attacks to evade authorities. However, the motive behind the consecutive shootings has not yet been clarified.

Brown University President Christina Paxson stated that Valente enrolled in the university’s physics doctoral program in 2000 but left the program after less than a year. She added that he had no current affiliation with the university. Valente reportedly entered the United States on a student visa and obtained permanent residency in 2017.

According to the investigation, Valente had recently stayed at a hotel in Boston and rented a Florida-registered gray Nissan Sentra, which was seen near the Brown University campus in the days leading up to the attack. Police tracked the suspect through public tips, security cameras, and license plate recognition systems.

FBI special units later located Valente’s rented storage unit near the New Hampshire–Massachusetts border. His body was found in an adjacent storage area, along with a bag containing two firearms.

The investigation into the attacks remains ongoing. (ILKHA)