Brown University Shooter's Close Friend Recalls Intellectual Brilliance and Troubling Behavior
Claudio Neves Valente, suspected of killing two Brown University students and an MIT professor, was described by a close friend as brilliant yet troubled.
A close friend of Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, the suspect behind the Brown University shooting, has come forward to describe the 48-year-old's complex personality. Scott Watson, a physics professor at Syracuse University, had a close relationship with Neves Valente during their time at Brown University's physics PhD program in the early 2000s. Despite describing him as often unhappy and prone to anger, Watson praised Neves Valente's intellectual abilities, saying he was 'brilliantly smart.' However, their friendship was marred by instances of bullying and troubling behavior, including a comment where Neves Valente referred to a classmate as his 'slave.' The two would often eat together at a local Portuguese restaurant near campus, but Watson also had to intervene in a fight between Neves Valente and another student. Neves Valente, a Portuguese national, had enrolled at Brown University as a physics PhD student in 2000 but withdrew from the program in 2003. Authorities suspect him of fatally shooting two students at Brown University and wounding nine others, before killing an MIT professor days later. Neves Valente was found dead in New Hampshire, having taken his own life.
