Claudio Neves Valente: Reddit post helped track down Brown University shooting suspect; here's how

Claudio Neves Valente was identified as the suspected Brown University shooter, who killed two and left nine injured. The 48-year-old Portuguese national died of a self-inflicted bullet wound today as authorities surrounded a storage facility in Salem, where he'd been tracked. After the shooting in Providence, Rhode Island, Valente made his way over to Brookline, where he shot MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, who died the next day of his injuries.

Authorities were only able to track down Valente as the manhunt entered the sixth day, and they've shared that the shooter took a lot of steps like swapping out number plates, making himself unidentifiable, and more, to evade the law. However, authorities had help from an unlikely source that aided in closing in on Valente. It came from Reddit!

The Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha shared an affidavit where it is noted “On December 16, 2025, the tip command center received information from an anonymous source referencing a Reddit post from the Providence sub-Reddit.” The username of the person is redacted. “The then anonymous tipster stated the Reddit poster said they saw the suspected shooter walking in the area. Investigators obtained a copy of the Reddit post,” the post added.

They noted that the Reddit post said “I'm being dead serious. The police need to look into a grey Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental. That was the car he was driving. It was parked in front ofthe little shack behind the Rhode Island Historical Society on the Cooke St side. I know because he used his key fob to open the car, approached it and then something prompted him to back away. When he backed away he relocked the car. I found that odd so when he circled the block I approached the car that is when I saw the Florida plates. He was parked in the section between the gate of the RIHS and the corner of Cooke and George St.”

The affidavit also noted that up until this time the public did not know about ‘a grey Nissan or a vehicle with a Florida plate.’ When investigators got the tip, they reviewed the surveillance videos further and found a grey/blue Nissan sedan. “It appeared consistent with the make and model of a Nissan Sentra sedan. The information provided by the Reddit poster was consistent with and corroborated the earlier described video,” the affidavit adds.

The person then approached the police on December 17, and identified himself as John. Authorities have not released his full name yet.

John told investigators that he first encountered the suspect inside a bathroom on the ground floor of the Barus Holley building immediately to the right of an entrance of the building on December 13, 2025 at approximately 13:45-14:00, the affidavit notes. He described Valente's clothing as ‘inappropriate and inadequate for the weather’. John said the jacket and gloves were flimsy.

“He described the clothing, including the jacket as baggy, with at least two undergarment shirt layers (one of which has a brand style logo in the bottom right corner; John believes the logo was a name brand, possibly L.L. Bean),” according to the affidavit.

Further, John described the pants and shoes as kitchen or restaurant worker style, ‘of poor quality' the affidavit says. He also described the large facemask covering the entire lower part of the suspect's face. John believed that the individual was wearing glasses and described his skin as "weathered" and a “cinnamon color complexion”, the affidavit adds. He believed the eyes were brown and his facе appeared to be chubby, the document also notes.

John also observed the suspect exit the building into the parking lot and he remained at the entrance until he observed the person go up Manning Street and then followed him, the document adds.

John also described an encounter with the suspect near the RI Historical Society. He watched the person approach a grey or silver sedan with a Florida registration plate. He assumed the person had a key fob since the lights of the Nissan lit up as the person approached.

The suspect then suddenly turned around from the vehicle and walked in the opposite direction, taking a left at the nearby intersection, the affidavit also detailed. John stated that the he "looked at [him] like he knew [him.]" John approached the sedan and saw two fanny pack style bags on the rear floorboard on the passenger side, as per the affidavit. John stayed on that block and observed that the suspect was looping back to the area, then switching directions every time they saw each other.

John described this pattern as "a game of cat and mouse" between himself and the Suspect, the affidavit adds.

“At some point, they encountered each other on George Street, at which time, the Suspect ran in the opposite direction. John then ran up behind the person of interest, slowed to a speed-walk and walked past the Suspect,” the document notes.

Then, he turned to face the suspect and asked "Your car is back there, why are you circling the block?" The person responded, "I don't know you from nobody," then Suspect repeatedly asked, ‘Why are you harassing me?", the document details. During this conversation, John detected a ’cadence or accent' to the person's voice and said it was ‘Hispanic’, the document notes. John saw the suspect approach his car one more time, but then continued onto Waterman Street and did not have any subsequent encounters.

He told detectives that he recognized one of the images released to the press as the person encountered that day, which prompted him to post on Reddit.

Neronha noted “He blew this case right open. He blew it open. That person led us to the car, which led us to the name, which led us to the photographs of that individual renting the car, which matched the clothing of our shooter here in Providence, that matched the satchel.”

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