Brown shooting suspect: gruelling academic climate may have taken mental toll, say ex-classmates | Brown University shooting

As investigators in Massachusetts work to determine the motive in the killings of two Brown University students and an MIT physics professor, former classmates of the suspected shooter and one of the victims are wondering whether the roots of the tragedy lie in their shared experience at a major university in Portugal.

The alleged shooter, Cláudio Valente, and one of those killed, Nuno FG Loureiro, studied at the University of Lisbon’s prestigious and notoriously difficult school of engineering and technology, known locally as Técnico, and both graduated in 2000.

Contemporaries of both men described the university environment as emotionally taxing. Only one of them was willing to go on the record, but several others expressed similar opinions.

Valente was described as bright and competitive, but willing to help his colleagues. He finished first in his class, averaging 19 out of 20, an unusually high score for Técnico. Loureiro, considered an excellent student but more relaxed than Valente, finished with an average of 16 out of 20.

Their classmates say that at the time, the two men seemed socially well integrated.

Nuno Morais, 48, now a researcher at Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Institute of Molecular Medicine, said he and his classmates, shaken by news of Loureiro’s murder, had “racked their brains” for any sign that something was wrong.

“For having known Cláudio and having had a good relationship with him, we can find no other explanation than a serious mental health problem – exacerbated by the resentment of not having achieved the academic career he dreamed of,” he said.

Shortly after graduating from Lisbon, Valente enrolled at Brown University as a promising young doctoral student in physics, but dropped out after a few months in early 2001 and returned to Portugal to work as a programmer for an Internet service provider.

Loureiro studied at Imperial College London, then Princeton University, before working at the Culham Center for Fusion Energy in the United Kingdom. He joined MIT in 2016 as a professor of nuclear science and engineering, eventually becoming director of the institute’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center.

Classmates of Valente and Loureiro said they suspected the highly competitive atmosphere of academia may have had psychological consequences.

“I don’t remember any specific situations directly involving Nuno and Cláudio during our graduate studies, but the culture of these schools remains the same: a hyper-competitive environment where struggling students are humiliated and made to feel like they can only succeed if they are the best of the best,” Morais said.

According to his peers, Valente was crushed by his failure to complete his doctorate.

Morais said: “The only connection I can make to Cláudio’s background and what happened is his disappointment with the experience at Brown. Those of us who work in academia dream of pursuing a doctorate at a major American university. Cláudio aspired to have a brilliant academic career, comparable to that of Nuno, and this dream was prematurely destroyed, generating frustration.”

He said his current job included mentoring and supporting students, which made him aware of the normality of emotional distress and high pressure in academia. He said that over the years, higher education institutions such as MIT and Caltech have taken steps to reduce pressure on students due to high suicide rates. Portugal is lagging behind in this area, he said.

“Portuguese schools now have therapists’ offices to help students, but there is a big lag in tackling bullying and harassment within institutions. The dominant culture is still one in which senior leaders behave in a way that is harmful to mental health and which continues to be tolerated. Tragedies like this should make us think very carefully,” Morais said.

A Técnico spokesperson said the school was not aware of any connection between the shooting and Valente and Loureiro’s time at the university.

“From what we read in the media, they seemed to have a normal, collegial relationship. We don’t see how something that happened 30 years ago can be linked to what happened today, but the school will come together to think and discuss,” they said.

Valente returned to the United States in 2017 through the Diversity Lottery immigrant visa program and obtained a green card. He lived in Miami.

On Friday morning, after Valente was found dead in a warehouse in Salem, New Hampshire, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that she had suspended the visa program under Trump’s leadership to “ensure that no American is further harmed by this disastrous program.”

“This heinous individual should never have been allowed into our country,” she wrote in her social media statement.

Such comments, as well as the Trump administration’s subsequent decision to further restrict legal immigration pathways using crime as a pretext, sparked outrage among Valente and Loureiro’s peers.

Morais said: “[This puts] the center of the problem in the wrong place. Access to guns and the hypercompetitive culture of some universities are closer to the root causes of these shootings than migration.”