Dear Members of the Brown Community,

Tonight, the law enforcement agencies leading the investigation into Saturday’s shooting that devastated our Brown community announced that the suspect they identified in the case has taken his own life after being surrounded by police in Salem, New Hampshire.

Nothing can fully bring closure to the lives that have been shattered by last weekend’s gun violence. Now, however, our community has the opportunity to move forward and begin a path of repair, recovery and healing. I want to thank the dedicated city, state and federal law enforcement agencies that worked tirelessly on this case. We hope this brings an increased sense of safety for our community.

Law enforcement officials confirmed at a press conference that Claudio Manuel Neves Valente was identified as the suspect. Neves Valente was enrolled at Brown as a graduate student from Fall 2000 to Spring 2001, but he has no active affiliation with Brown and has not been affiliated with Brown since 2003. He was not a current student, was not an employee and did not receive a degree from the University, attending for only three semesters as a graduate student until taking a leave in 2001 and formally withdrawing effective July 31, 2003.

We recognize the profound anxiety and fear that members of our community and the surrounding region have experienced in recent days, and we hope this significant development provides some comfort, even as we continue to navigate the impacts of last weekend’s tragic violence. It is my hope that this news also will end the harmful and dangerous online targeting of members of the Brown community, arising from rampant and baseless speculation, some of it based on individuals’ ethnic origin, culture and religion. 

In the aftermath of the shooting, we have seen harmful doxxing activity directed toward several students, faculty and staff, and multiple offices have been committed to providing support, while we also have worked aggressively to combat disinformation in online media and activity that has gone as far as to threaten individuals in our community. The safety of our community is and continues to be our top priority.

I am heartened by the manner in which this case demonstrates the wonderful ways Brown and Providence are closely linked as neighbors and as a community. Law enforcement confirmed that the tips and information provided by community members made it possible to identify the suspect. Our Brown and Providence community and the law enforcement community formed an essential partnership, and we are deeply and immensely grateful to our own Department of Public Safety, along with the Providence Police Department, the FBI, the Rhode Island State Police, the Office of the Rhode Island Attorney General, the ATF and the many other local and federal agencies that collaborated on this case over the past five days.

We know the public and our own Brown community members will want to know more about the deceased individual now identified by law enforcement as the suspect in last weekend’s shooting. We can confirm some details to the best of our knowledge, based on our review in the short time since law enforcement authorities made us aware of this development. We have provided this information to law enforcement as they build their case and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement as the investigation progresses.

Neves Valente was admitted to Brown's Graduate School to study in the Sc.M-PhD program in physics. During his time at Brown, Neves Valente was enrolled only in physics classes, and it is likely that he would have taken courses and spent time in Barus & Holley, where the vast majority of physics courses take place in classrooms and laboratories. Detailed records indicating where classes were held don’t extend back to 2001. 

While Brown remains committed to searching all institutional systems to identify any pertinent information to assist law enforcement, we have thus far found no indication of any concerns pertaining to conduct or any public safety interactions during the short time Neves Valente was enrolled as a graduate student at Brown. As of yet, we have not identified any employee who recalls Neves Valente, nor is there any Brown record of recent contact between this individual and Brown. 

We know that many members of our community will have additional questions, particularly about any motive in the terrible act of violence that stole the lives of two of our students and injured nine others. We will continue to partner with law enforcement to provide additional information in the days and weeks to come. It is important now that we allow our partners in the criminal justice system to do what they have the expertise and authority to do: investigate further as they deem appropriate. It is through this process that we will begin to understand more. 

For now, we continue to support the family and friends of our beloved students Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, and I am pleased to share that the condition of the other shooting victims continues to improve. Six are in stable condition, and three now have been discharged from the hospital.

We extend our deepest gratitude to everyone involved in the response to the violence that still weighs heavily on our full campus, with particular thanks to Mayor Brett Smiley, Governor Dan McKee and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha. I appreciate the many dedicated professionals who are working to help restore a sense of safety for Brown and the Providence community.

I also am deeply grateful to everyone who continues to support all of those impacted by this terrible tragedy. This includes the staff and faculty from every corner of the University who have worked tirelessly for five days since rushing to campus on Saturday. We will never know and cannot possibly capture the full breadth of the countless selfless acts that continue to reflect who we are as a community at Brown — from staff providing shelter to students and helping reunite students with their families, to serving meals and rescuing belongings left behind during emergency evacuations, to offering embraces, consolation and solace. I continue to be deeply moved by colleagues stepping forward to help in ways that make all the difference in the well-being of a community still grieving but determined to be strong. 

As we look ahead to healing and recovery, I am so proud of everything that makes us Brown.

Sincerely,

Christina H. Paxson
Brown University President