Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office received tip about Brown University shooting suspect
New details are emerging about the South Florida connection of the suspected Brown University shooter who killed two people and wounded several others there, including that the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office was asked to assist in the investigation.
Claudio Neves Valente, 48, was found dead Thursday evening in a New Hampshire storage facility from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, said.
Valente, who was also a student at Brown, is believed to be responsible for both the shooting at the university and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was fatally shot in his home Monday, a law enforcement official. Police said that they were investigating whether the two shootings were linked.
On Friday, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office confirmed to NBC6 that they had been “requested to assist in locating a suspect connected to the Brown University shooting.”
“The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the FBI to assist with the Brown University shooting investigation regarding a potential location of the subject in Miami-Dade County. Detectives responded accordingly and were later advised that their assistance was no longer needed,” the sheriff’s office said. “MDSO remains committed to assist local, state, and federal law enforcement partners in their investigations whenever requested.”
More information about the tip and where it led detectives was not immediately provided.
But that wasn’t the end of Neves Valente’s connection to South Florida. Following news of his death, authorities said his last known address was in the Miami area, specifically Ives Estates.
NBC6 crews went to the neighborhood and spoke to multiple neighbors, but only one, Edward Pol, said he’d “definitely seen him driving out of here, but really never spoke to him.”
Pol said the last time he saw the man he believes to be Neves Valente was about two months ago.
“I know him cause he’s been outside on his lawn, I seen him. But yeah, he was up and down here. I mean, he’s just one of our neighbors,” he said.
Meanwhile, the current resident at the address where Neves Valente reportedly lived insisted through a doorbell camera that he did not know the shooting suspect.
The manhunt for Neves Valente ended with information from a tipster who had a strange encounter with another man on a sidewalk outside Brown University. Known only as “John” in a Providence police affidavit, the source is being hailed by investigators as the key figure who gave law enforcement the details needed to determine who was behind the shootings.
It’s still unclear why he opened fire.