Claudio Neves Valente, the 58-year-old Portuguese national who opened fire at Brown University, killing two students last month, confessed on video that he was planning the school shooting for months, federal officials said Tuesday.
While searching the Salem, New Hampshire, storage facility in which Neves Valente was found dead days later, investigators found an electronic device made by the Portuguese national, US Attorney Leah Foley said Tuesday.
Neves Valente confessed that he had been planning to commit a shooting at Brown University for at least six semesters but did not state an exact motive.
“To say that I was extraordinarily satisfied, no, but also I don’t regret what I did,” Neves Valente is quoted as saying in a transcript provided by Foley’s office.
According to Foley’s office, Neves Valente stated on video that he did not intend to carry out the shooting in an auditorium.
“I wanted to do it in a regular room. And I had plenty of opportunities, especially this semester, I had plenty of opportunities, but I always chickened out, and I already explained why I did it this time,” Neves Valente said.
“When I say that I have no hatred toward America, I also have no love for it -- you can barely see this -- I have no love. Actually, I think that coming here, both times I did, was a f****g mistake. But to say that you all are extraordinarily bad, that would be neither bad nor good,” Neves Valente allegedly disclosed further in a separate video.
Neves Valente also did not provide a motive for his slaying of a prominent MIT professor in Brookline days later but complained about a self-inflicted injury he suffered during the shooting.
" I did one more, basically, since I’m not sure; it was done at a relatively short distance and quickly, and I don’t know exactly when I was hit in the eye," Neves Valente said.
Investigators have said that a key witness who encountered Neves Valente helped them identify and track down the suspect. Neves Valente seemingly commented on the witness, saying on camera: “ I was almost confronted by a guy there that day ... not almost, I actually was confronted and he knew my license plate, I honestly never thought it would take them so long to find me.”
Neves Valente was found dead at a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, several days after the shooting. Neves Valente used international SIM cards, multiple license plates, and credit cards in different names to vanish after the shooting.
On video, Neves Valente acknowledged the car that investigators would eventually pinpoint at Brown University and the killing of MIT Professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro could be seen on video just outside the storage facility.
Loureiro, a 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist, had joined MIT in 2016 and was named last year to lead the school’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, one of its largest laboratories. The scientist from Viseu, Portugal, had been working to explain the physics behind astronomical phenomena such as solar flares.
Neves Valente also denied that he was mentally ill, saying on camera, " I am sane."
In a third video, Neves Valente also seemingly addressed the investigators he knew would eventually find the videos.
“To sum it all up, that is it. I do not even know if I’m going to leave this here. But even if I delete it, it is on an SD card, it’s going to bea little hard. I want to know if you are going to post this, maybe I would prefer that you don’t,” Neves Valente saud,
“ I don’t care at all about being famous, having a legacy, and shit like that, manifestos and fucking stuff. I have absolutely no patience for that. Even though I would have a lot to say and write, I don’t care. I’m not going to give you the right to that, he continued.”
The two Brown students killed during a study session for final exams were 19-year-old sophomore Ella Cook and 18-year-old freshman Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov. Cook was active in her Alabama church and served as vice president of the Brown College Republicans. Umurzokov’s family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan when he was a child, and he aspired to be a doctor.
Every other student wounded in the deadly shooting was out of the hospital by January 5.
Federal officials say they are continuing to investigate Neves Valente’s motives further.
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