Federal investigators have released disturbing confessional-style videos revealing that a gunman meticulously planned his deadly shooting spree across multiple universities over several months. Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, documented his preparations in Portuguese before executing attacks that claimed three lives and injured nine others.
According to translated transcripts released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Valente stated he spent ‘six semesters’ planning the December 13th assault at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The attack resulted in the deaths of two students—19-year-old Ella Cook and 18-year-old Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov—and left nine others wounded.
Two days following the campus shooting, Valente traveled to Massachusetts where he fatally shot MIT professor Nuno Loureiro at his residence near Boston. Investigators confirmed both men had attended the same university in Portugal and were believed to be acquainted, though no specific motive for targeting either institution was provided in the recordings.
The footage, discovered in a New Hampshire storage unit alongside Valente’s body on December 18th following a multi-state manhunt, shows the gunman expressing zero remorse for his actions. Instead, he blamed his unarmed victims for their own deaths and complained about a self-inflicted injury sustained during the professor’s shooting when a bullet casing struck his eye.
Despite his violent actions, Valente denied having mental illness or anti-American sentiments in his recordings, calling his decision to immigrate to the United States a ‘mistake’ while asserting he held ‘no hatred towards America.’
The prolonged investigation and delayed suspect identification drew significant criticism, though prosecutors have confirmed there is no ongoing threat to public safety while the investigation continues.