“I’m not going to apologize”: Shooter who killed Brown students and MIT professor left confessional videos, DOJ says

The man identified as the shooter who killed two Brown University students and a MIT professor planned his attacks for years and left behind videos in which he confessed to the murders but offered no motive, according to information released Tuesday by the United States Department of Justice.Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a former Brown student and Portuguese national, was found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility after killing two students and wounding nine others in an engineering building on December 13. Two days later, he killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro at his home in the Boston suburb of Brookline. Justice Department officials said that during the search of the storage facility on December 18, the Federal Bureau of Investigation recovered an electronic device containing a series of short videos made by Neves Valente after the shootings.In the recordings, Neves Valente admitted in Portuguese that he had planned the attacks for at least six semesters. He did not provide a reason for targeting Brown University or Loureiro, with whom he attended school in Portugal decades earlier.

Videos do not provide motive but address misinformation

In an English-translated transcript provided by the Department of Justice, Neves Valente said he felt he had nothing to apologize for. He also discussed injuring his eye during the shootings.“I’m not going to apologize because during my lifetime no one sincerely apologized to me,” Neves Valente said, according to the Associated Press.He directly addressed claims spread by conservative influencer Laura Loomer suggesting that the shooter had spoken in Arabic while entering the auditorium. Neves Valente said he did not speak Arabic or intend to make a statement. If he made any sound, he said it was likely an exclamation such as “Oh no” to express disappointment that the auditorium appeared empty. Students were hiding under desks, but Neves Valente believed they had already escaped through an emergency exit.“I never wanted to do it in an auditorium. I wanted to do it in a regular room. I had plenty of opportunities. Especially this semester, I had plenty of opportunities, but I always chickened out,” he said, according to the Associated Press.Neves Valente said his victims were shot at random. He insisted he was not mentally ill. He said he did not want to be famous and that the videos were not a manifesto.

Execution of attacks

Neves Valente described his “only objective” as leaving on his “own terms” and ensuring he “would not be the one who ended up suffering the most from all this.” He called his execution of the murders “a little incompetent” but added, “But at least something was done,” according to the Associated Press.The shootings killed two students: sophomore Ella Cook, 19, and freshman MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, 18. Nine others were injured. Two days later, authorities said Neves Valente shot Loureiro. Neves Valente and Loureiro had attended the same academic program at a university in Portugal between 1995 and 2000. Loureiro graduated from the physics program at Instituto Superior Técnico, the country’s premier engineering school, in 2000. That year, Neves Valente was let go from a position at the Lisbon university, according to an archive of a termination notice.Neves Valente said in the videos that he had rented the storage space where his body was found for about three years.Brown University said in a statement Tuesday that “the gravity of this tragedy continues to weigh heavily on the full Brown University community” and that it continues to mourn the deaths of the students and pray for the recovery of those injured, according to the Associated Press.

Witness encounter and identification

Neves Valente described being confronted by a witness at Brown University that led to his identification. According to police, the witness had several encounters with Neves Valente before the attack. After authorities posted images of the person of interest, the witness posted on Reddit that he recognized Neves Valente and suggested police investigate a rental gray Nissan. Reddit users encouraged him to contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which he did. Police had not previously connected a vehicle to the suspect, according to the affidavit.“I actually was confronted,” Neves Valente said about the Brown shooting, adding that the witness saw his license plate, according to the Associated Press.Neves Valente said he did not have hatred or love for the United States, where he first arrived around 25 years ago to study physics at Brown University before leaving in the spring of 2001. He later obtained legal permanent residence in September 2017. His last known residence was in Miami.“It’s the same thing with Portugal, and most of the places where I have been. I’ve been here without caring for a very long time now,” he said, according to the Associated Press.