How 1 anonymous tipster cracked the Brown University shooting case

PROVIDENCE, RI — Information from an informant who had a strange encounter with another man on a sidewalk outside Brown University was key to police identifying the suspect they say killed two students at the school and then fatally shot a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor two days later.

Known only as “John” in a Providence police affidavit, the source is hailed by investigators as the key figure who gave law enforcement the details needed to determine who was behind Brown’s shooting, as well as the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was shot to death Monday at his Brookline home.

Since a shooter fired more than 40 rounds inside a Brown Engineering building, anxiety and frustration have plagued the Providence, Rhode Island, community as police appeared no closer to identifying the person.

However, on the sixth day of the investigation, the case gained momentum, and police announced Thursday evening that they had found the suspected shooter dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The tipster, John, was the reason.

“He blew this case,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said of the information the individual provided that led to the shooter being found nearly 24 hours later.

“When you break it, you break it,” he said.

Police say John had several confrontations with Claudio Neves Valente, 48, before Saturday’s attack. As police released images of a person of interest – now identified as Neves Valente – John began posting on the social media forum Reddit that he recognized the person and speculated that police should investigate “possibly a rental gray Nissan.” Reddit users urged him to notify the FBI, and John responded that he had. The police affidavit says they learned of the information on Dec. 16, three days after the shooting and one day after the tip line was established.

Until then, the police affidavit said authorities had not connected a vehicle to the potential shooter.

That detail led them to obtain more video from a Florida-registered Nissan Sentra sedan and gave Providence police officers access to a network of more than 70 street cameras operated throughout the city by surveillance company Flock Safety.

The affidavit states that John gave investigators additional critical details: He met Neves Valente in the restroom of the engineering building just hours before the attack, where John noted that the suspect’s clothing was “inappropriate and unsuitable for the weather.”

John also ran into Neves Valente outside, a few blocks from the building, where John watched Neves Valente “suddenly” turn around from the Nissan when he saw John. What then ensued was a “game of cat and mouse,” according to John’s testimony – where the two met and Neves Valente ran away.

At one point, John says he yelled, “Your car is over there, why are you going around the block?” »

“The suspect responded, “I don’t know you from anyone,” and then the suspect repeatedly asked, “Why are you harassing me?” »,” according to the affidavit.

John told police he eventually saw Neves Valente approaching the Nissan sedan again and decided to walk away.

“Respectfully, I have said everything I have to say on this subject to the right people,” John wrote on Reddit Wednesday evening.

It was unclear Thursday whether John would receive the $50,000 reward the FBI offered him for information about Brown’s shooting.

Ted Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI, said this was possible at the request of journalists.

“It would be logical to think that, absolutely, that person would be entitled to it,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Matt O’Brien contributed to this report.