US: Brown University shooting suspect found dead in storage facility

RHODE ISLAND: The suspect in the Brown University mass shooting was found dead Thursday (local time), having taken his own life, CNN reported.

The shooter’s dead body was found in a New Hampshire storage facility, the outlet reported citing Providence Police Chief Oscar L. Perez Jr.’s statement.

This shooting adds to the rising trend of gun violence in the United States, marking at least the 75th school shooting this year.

Authorities identified the suspect as Claudio Valente, a 48-year-old former Brown University student and Portuguese national.

He was discovered at a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, along with a satchel, two firearms, and evidence matching the crime scene, according to CNN.

Providence police confirmed that the vehicle linked to Valente, found abandoned near the storage facility, was a rental, as verified by FBI financial records.

The mass shooting on December 13 at the Ivy League school left two students dead and nine others injured. Providence Police Chief Perez Jr. stated that Valente acted alone during the attack, as per CNN.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said officials will test the guns found with the suspect for ballistic and DNA evidence. However, they are confident the search for the perpetrator is over.

“We are 100 per cent confident that this is our target and that this case is closed from a perspective of pursuing people involved,” Neronha said at a news conference.

Despite the suspect’s death, questions surrounding the incident and his motive remain.

“I don’t think we have any idea why now or why? Why Brown? Why these students? Why this classroom? That is really unknown to us, and it may become clear,” Neronha said. “I hope that it does, but it hasn’t as of right now.” Officials are also investigating potential links between the Brown shooting and the killing of an MIT professor earlier this week in Massachusetts, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the case.

Valente had previously been enrolled at Brown University in the Master of Science PhD program in physics. University President Christina Hull Paxson said he attended from September 2000 to April 2001 before taking a leave of absence and formally withdrawing in July 2003.

During his time at Brown, he was enrolled only in physics courses, most of which were held in the Barus & Holley Engineering and Physics building, where the shooting occurred. Paxson added that Valente was not affiliated with the university at the time of the attack. (ANI)