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Laura Coates Live

Suspect in Brown University Shooting Found Dead; Wisconsin Judge Found Guilty of Helping Immigrant Avoid ICE Arrest. Aired 11p- 12a ET

Aired December 18, 2025 - 23:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[23:00:00]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- led folks to this particular storage unit where a lot of law enforcement officials say they were able to see inside and see that mask, see that satchel, see other things that indicated that their suspect, their then person of interest was likely here.

The suspect, Sara, had a storage unit inside here. That was one of the main ways that led them to this specific facility. And then, of course, as we now know, the suspect found dead with an inflicted gunshot wound inside there.

So, again, a lot more to tell you about this particular space in the coming hour, but that's a very active scene behind me right here as the investigation concludes in Salem, New Hampshire. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you to you, Danny Freeman. They're on the scene. The big breaking news, the suspect and the Brown mass shooting has been found. He has been found dead by police. Special coverage continues with Laura Coates right now.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is "CNN Breaking News."

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST AND SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Good evening. I'm Laura Coates with the stunning breaking news tonight. After a six-day manhunt, the suspect in the mass shooting at Brown University has now been found dead. And officials tonight have confirmed that same suspect also murdered an MIT professor in Massachusetts.

A night of very quick developments brought police to this moment and to this location, a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire. That's where the suspect was discovered with a fatal self-inflicted gunshot wound, all inside of a storage unit that he owned or rented.

Police say that he was 48 years old, a former Brown University student. He was enrolled in a physics grad program more than two decades ago.

Authorities say they made a major breakthrough in the case from a tip that came in just hours after they released that new footage yesterday. Now, that tip led them to a rental car, which they then found at that storage facility. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: That person came forward to two Providence police officers over on the east side and said he had information, that he was that person, and he had information that could help this case. And I remember last night watching his interview. And he blew this case right open. He blew it open. And that person led us to the car, which led us to the name, which led us to the photographs of that individual renting the car, which matched the clothing of our shooter here in Providence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Now, police just released these photos. It shows the suspect at a rental car store in Boston. Authorities say that he swapped license plates on the rental, which made it harder, of course, to track him.

Now, we're going to cover every angle of this story. Our reporters are fanned out across New England. Our analysts are here to unpack what we're learning about the investigation as it is unfolding before us tonight.

I want to start with CNN's Brian Todd, who was in Providence, Rhode Island. He was at that news conference with law enforcement just moments ago, wrapped up. Brian, the manhunt officially over after six days. What did we learn about this shooter from the authorities?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're learning a great deal, Laura, because they've finally given us a name, they've given us an age. Let me go through the basics of what they have given us tonight. This person is identified as Claudio Neves Valente, 48 years old. He is a native of Portugal, a former Brown University student, a graduate student in physics. His last known residence was in Miami, Florida.

They did say that he took his own life tonight. I asked authorities specifically. Did he take his own life as authorities closed in on him at that storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire? How close were they? Were they imminently approaching him? Were they getting in very close to that facility? The attorney general, Peter Neronha, said he didn't have the answer to that question, but they do know that he took his own life tonight with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

We also learned of a critical link to the MIT shooting because the FBI special agent in charge, Ted Docks, did confirm that he and the victim at MIT went to the same college in Portugal.

Now, after the news conference, I asked the attorney general, Peter Neronha. Can you tell me anything more about any personal dispute he had with that MIT professor, anything of that nature? How did they know each other, you know, aside from going to college together in Portugal? And Peter Neronha said, you know, that's one of the things that we're looking into. We don't really have some of that information yet.

They detailed his movements, how he rented a car in Boston. He changed license plates multiple times, that the storage facility was his, that he had paid for. They don't know how long he had been in the storage facility.

I specifically asked the Brown University president, Christina Paxson. When he was at Brown University, did he have any disciplinary issues, any grievances, any problems at all that were documented at that time?

[23:05:00]

Remember, he was there only from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001. Christina Paxson said, we don't know the answer to that. She said, these are old records. You can believe that they're going to be going back -- pardon me -- and checking some of that. So, another key thing that we have not learned.

And, again, from what I just said, these are questions that we were asking, about the motive for allegedly killing the MIT professor and the motive for opening fire at Brown. They just don't know the motive yet. They don know -- they don't clearly know the motive yet. They have put together that these two crimes are connected through this one person.

Some other detail, they did say that the two weapons that he had were found next to his body, by his thighs and feet. And those are some of the -- those are some of the key details that we do have. Laura?

COATES: And some kind of a satchel or something found by his body as well. All the questions you asked --

TODD: Yes.

COATES: -- were the right ones, and I'm eager --

TODD: Right.

COATES: -- to hear the answers, particularly around motive. I think that would give some -- comfort is the wrong word, but some explanation, some statement to the community that has been suffering and the families who are grieving through all this tragedy. And you also said there was some key witness who really helped blow this case wide open. What can you tell us?

TODD: Right, and that was -- that was a crucial break in the case because here's another really important piece of information here, Laura. Peter Neronha, the attorney general of Rhode Island, just told us they didn't have this guy's name until last night at about this time. That means days went by when they had no name. It was on Wednesday afternoon that they released an image and they did tell us about a second person who came into proximity with this person. That's the person who they wanted to speak to.

I learned before this news conference that they had brought that person in and questioned him and interviewed him and that he was not a suspect. I knew that before the news conference started.

But what Peter Neronha, the attorney general, said was that that second person who had come into proximity with him blew the case open. He led them to the name. He led them to the car, to the clothing, to the satchel, to a photograph. That person, he said, blew this investigation open. We did also learn that that person, that second person who had come into proximity with him had had some kind of a confrontation with him on the campus of Brown --

COATES: Really?

TODD: -- in the hours or just some time before the shooting occurred and that the main suspect, Valente, said, why are you harassing me? Apparently, this person questioned why he was on campus. He appeared suspicious to him. And he had possibly followed him or at least confronted him in some way. And Valente said, why are you harassing me? And then he walked away -- both of them walked away from each other. And then Valente came back apparently later and committed the shootings, allegedly.

COATES: Oh my God. What could have been? Unbelievable. I want to hear more about that person. Brian Todd, please stand by. I want to go back to CNN's Danny Freeman, who's in Salem, New Hampshire. He's actually at the scene where this manhunt ended. Danny, Brian was breaking down for us what we learned tonight. Describe the scene in front of you. What happened at this warehouse and storage facility where the suspect was found?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Laura, it's remarkable. I mean, this has been a massive manhunt, really two manhunts over the course of several days all across New England and 80 miles north of where Brian is right now. It ended here in Salem, New Hampshire.

So, right now, we're on Hampshire Road, fittingly. There are a lot of storage spaces and storage facilities on this road. And this right here is the massive storage complex where this suspect was found, ultimately dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

And Laura, it's fascinating because when we got here, there was a tremendous amount of law enforcement personnel on scene. There were helicopters in the air. At one point, we saw a massive influx of FBI agents arrived as well, and they've really been focused in the back portion of here. You've been looking at it. Our viewers, I should say, been looking at it all day through the bird's eye view of a helicopter.

And right back there was the vehicle that was in question. That was so critical to, again, finding and discovering this suspect. And law enforcement officials said that they were able to see inside of the vehicle, the mask, other pieces of evidence that ultimately made them realize, oh, this is where we're circling in on the person we've been looking for so long. And then, of course, they discovered him inside of that storage facility behind me.

Laura, one of the interesting ways that they were able to connect him to the storage facility that he himself back in November, the suspect, actually rented out a storage unit in here, which helped law enforcement officials focus in on the spot. So, it is a bit of a grizzly scene, you have to imagine, inside there. But every person that we heard speaking in all of these various different press conferences seem certain that this was the person that they were looking for.

[23:09:58]

And I'll just say one other thing, Laura. I noted at the end of the last hour, just moments ago, we saw a massive tow truck come in, go across the police tape to presumably take the car that has been at the center of this investigation back for evidence processing before. So, yes, a very, very active scene out here in Salem, New Hampshire.

COATES: Where is this person's body? Inside the storage facility still?

FREEMAN: Yes. At this point, as far we understand, the body is still inside of the storage facility. There was a local police officer who we'd asked about that, and he had said that it had not been moved, at least since the time that we were here. And it's interesting, the whole road was shut off earlier --

COATES: Yes.

FREEMAN: -- but then they allowed us to come in closer to get this better perspective, really, on all of these different law enforcement officers coming in and out. We've also been watching people in those big white evidence clothing to basically protect them from getting the scene contaminated or themselves, Laura.

COATES: I wonder what's inside that facility, any indication of motive or anything else that would give some insight. What have you heard from the residents in the area?

FREEMAN: Well, that's the amazing thing. So, like I said, this whole area is filled with a lot of storage facilities. There are also some wooded areas over there. But residents that we were speaking within the area, they said that this is just not something that they expect to have happened in Salem, New Hampshire. It's a pretty quiet area on the border of New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

We spoke to one resident who was again just stunned, but relieved that if it had to have ended, at least it didn't end here with this law enforcement community. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: I could hear the helicopters flying right over my head. So, I ended up driving up here, and I ended up seeing all the commotion going down right behind us. And so, I ended up driving over to see what was going on.

I saw a lot of FBI agents in, like, tactical gear coming in and out, a lot of cops. It was before they had shut down the entire road. So, I got, like, a good view of everything that was going on. We were looking over here. They were looking at some cars. They ended up shimmying their way into one of the cars. I'm not sure what they were looking for, but potentially evidence.

FREEMAN: You say you saw them find one car and really try to work their way in?

UNKNOWN: Yes. They had some type of tool to get the door open. There were U.S. Marshals and ATF agents, and they were trying to get in there for some reason.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Wow, Danny, we just think about all that has unfolded tonight and watching that scene right now. The idea that this person's body is still inside this facility and the evidence continuing to come.

I want to turn right now to CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller, also former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. John, get me here. How do we get here? What helped them crack this case wide open? It has been six days of a manhunt.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, it's fascinating. And you have one witness who emerges three different times in the course of this case. First, you have a maintenance employee, a custodian who works at Brown, who has an encounter with this suspect in the bathroom way back around November 28, December 1st. And he feels this guy is suspicious and he doesn't belong there. And they have -- they have this encounter, they have words, and then the individual leaves. Then you have the events of the shooting on December 13th.

And then you have that -- you have an individual who posts on Reddit that they should bring their attention to this silver Nissan that's parked by the Historical Society because a suspicious guy, you know, who was walking around is connected to that vehicle. And police investigate the Reddit post, and they looked at the video, and they see that vehicle shows up on the video.

But they also see that their suspect has an encounter with a person, a guy wearing a blue jacket with a gray hoodie. So, they're, like, we need to find this person and find out what was that encounter about. When they find that person, they find out that it is John again, the custodian from Brown University, who had first cited this guy as suspicious in the bathroom at that building where the shooting was at 1:45 on the day of the shooting. So, he sees the subject again and confronts him in the street, and the suspect turns around and says, why are you harassing me?

Here's the key. When he has that encounter, he says the suspect presses a key fob and it unlocks the gray Nissan. But when he sees this guy has noticed it, he just locks it up again and walks away from it as if he's trying to disassociate himself from that car.

So, the police go to work with their flock camera system downtown, and they look for all the center Nissans, and they develop this Florida plate, and they show it to John, and he says, that looks like the car, and the rest gives them a pathway to the name, seeing the individual with the same clothing at the rent-a-car company. It ends up tying them to the Boston case.

[23:14:57]

But these three encounters with the Reddit witness, the original custodian at Brown, and then the person that they asked to come forward, who then approaches police, all turned out to be the same guy.

COATES: I'm blown away at the instinct of the person who had some sort of a sense that this person did not belong there. And I just can't help but wonder, Andrew McCabe, what might have been had this person been prevented from doing what he did. I mean, authorities say the suspect used more than one set of license plates, you heard John's description, even trying to use the key fob, and then walk away from that vehicle. There's some planning involved here. There is some -- do you see some level of sophistication, though?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: No question. There is -- this is a very sophisticated offender. We know that he disguised his appearance, used the hat, the mask. We know that he, as you just mentioned, is switching the license plates on his vehicle, likely to avoid detection by the license plate reader technology that's deployed all over our cities and streets.

We also -- we also know from the Boston press conference that took place just a little while ago that he was utilizing credit cards that did not come back to his name. So, you know, he was clearly very aware of taking every step that he could to not leave a trace, to not show up on video in a way that could be recognized, to not, you know, have his travels by vehicle detected by the police.

Now, the thing that's amazing to me about the story that John just told us about the witness is he is working in the building where the shooting took place as a janitor. So, by that status alone, it seems like he's someone who should have been interviewed in the very, very first initial canvas for witnesses after the shooting.

MILLER: And he was.

MCCABE: And so -- yes. And so, how did we -- it just seems strange that we didn't -- that that connection didn't come up then. Had it then, who knows, we could have -- could maybe have avoided the tragedy on December 15th with the shooting of the MIT professor. But -- I mean, all this is speculation but it's incredibly fortunate that it came together in the way that it did.

COATES: Well, John, you said that this person had been -- it's astounding that there was that encounter, there was a suspicion, there was the Reddit post, there was the after part where they're having somebody who was in close proximity. And, of course, during all these intervening days, we've had a reaching out by law enforcement to the public for more information to try to crack this case. But this introduction now of a murder of an MIT professor on Monday which, of course, was after the shootings on the Brown University campus, I mean, what linked these two together? Do we have some insight as to why this professor, why Brown University, and this person?

MILLER: So, what we have is a timeline, which is it's useful in trying to organize this because it can get confusing. But December 1st, you know, he arrives in Boston, he rents that car, and then heads to the Providence area. December 13th, he has the shooting at Brown University where he tries to shoot and kill and wound as many people as he can, and then escape. So, it's two days later, on December 15th, where he travels to Boston. Almost immediately after the shooting, he travels to Boston, and then goes to the home of Nuno Loureiro, the professor from MIT.

Now, at that point, they have a video canvas that shows him at 4 o'clock, parked half a mile away. This is -- the picture you're looking at now is him leaving the rent-a-car place after obtaining the car. They have the shooting where they have video of him entering the apartment building before the shooting, leaving the apartment building after the shooting, and then -- and then he goes to his storage area up in New Hampshire to either regroup, switch things. We don't know.

And then, of course, he is booked on a flight today to fly out. He's supposed to return the rent-a-car. Overnight, investigators get this information, and they're gearing up today to, you know, we've got to intercept him when he drops off the car, we've got to have people at the flight. You know, they've got all this.

And then he extends the rental on the car, and then hits the road. But at this point, they're trying to track him through license plate readers, through other things. They know both plates by this point because they've worked this out in their investigation overnight.

[23:20:02]

He is using cellphones, they believe, but he's also swapping out SIM cards, which is thwarting and confusing their ability to track him. But that license plate reader pops on the main license plate, state of Maine, not the Florida plate that that car came with. They go find that area. They canvas it till they locate that car. It's at the storage area. And then they engage with the storage area, and they are, like, there is an individual, he has this -- he has this rental, and then they find him inside. But that's the fast forward version.

COATES: My God.

MILLER: It still -- it gets us to process. But it still doesn't get us to motive. Motive.

COATES: It doesn't. And --

MILLER: You know, we know he went to Brown. We know he was there a year. Six months, really. Then he took a leave of absence, which may be a signal that he was struggling as a student and took a leave of absence rather than go on some kind of academic discipline. He never comes back. He finally withdraws officially in 2003.

But what does that have to do with his grievance against the school? Did he consider that, you know, part of his failure in life, that he didn't make it through Brown? Is that what brings him back?

And what does that have to do with the professor from MIT, where he never went to school? But it turns out that they attended the same school in Portugal back in the 90s. Now, we don't know. Were they best friends? Were they acquaintances? Were they competitors? We know that one of them reached the heights of success in academia as a scientist, a professor, and a top guy at MIT. We know the other didn't amount to much and will only be known for this shooting. Could that be the seeds of these two grievances? Too early to say. Not enough information to know, but we see some clues.

COATES: Andrew, we're hearing the minds of an investigator. You have one as well, trying to unpack and find motive. And my mind goes back to what might be inside of that storage space. He rented it back in November. There is obviously some premeditation, some planning to do all the things that John Miller just described.

Is there within that particular facility, knowing that some people who commit these crimes, they want to live in infamy and have someone understand and explain why they did it, is there some sort of information, you think, that might be present in that particular facility that would give some insight of any kind to the why?

MCCABE: There very well may be. We don't know yet. We know that a federal search warrant to search the storage facility was obtained. That's basically why we spent so much time earlier this evening watching the tactical teams go in and out of -- in and out of that building. We saw also there are large trucks kind of just outside the camera shot that you're seeing now on your screen, the evidence response teams from the FBI, the trucks full of all the equipment necessary to do that sort of evidence recovers out there.

So, we know that the teams are going through that storage facility right now with a fine-tooth comb. Of course, the body is still located inside. After that crime scene has been processed, the body will obviously be removed, and then they will go through every single thing they find in there.

Hopefully, there's a lot of information. What investigators would like to find are writings, journals, electronic devices that might contain writings or documents created by Mr. Valente or electronic devices that might reveal other facilities, other email addresses, maybe social media accounts, and things also that would reveal search requests. He's got a phone on him. You want to go to see what his Google search history looks like.

So, all of those things could help shine a light on what this person was thinking, what was motivating him to embark upon what from the surface looked to all of us, I think, like two very different, very distinct crimes. You have a mass shooting at a major university in which the victims were in all likelihood people that the shooter did not know and had no connection to and had never met. So, it seemed to fit much more in the model of mass shootings where a shooter is just working out a grievance or an anger or a mental, you know, psychological crisis and looking to harm as many people as he can.

[23:24:59]

The other crime, the murder of the MIT professor, very different. It takes place not at the university but in the professor's home. So, this has got to be some way that these two people were connected, had a previous relationship or acquaintance or something like that, maybe professional, maybe academic, who knows. But somehow, he found the location of that home and managed to get himself into it to encounter his victim face to face.

So, without understanding the connections between these two crime scenes. Initially, that was -- I think most people assume those were two totally independent acts but, of course, now, tonight, we know differently.

COATES: This man is dead. The investigation very much alive. John Miller, Andrew McCabe, both, stand by. Thank you. We have so much more on our breaking news tonight as we learn more about the suspect and the new clues tonight that could lead us to understanding not a justification by any stretch but a motive, next.

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[23:30:00]

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COATES: We're following the breaking news, the manhunt for the Brown University shooter over. The suspect dead. Authorities connecting shooter Claudio Neves Valente to not only the mass shooting at Brown, but also the murder of an MIT professor.

In a second, we will be hearing from the Providence police chief live right here on CNN. As we await that important moment, I want to turn to former FBI special agent Daniel Brunner and criminologist Casey Jordan. Thank you both for being here.

I mean, Casey, let's begin with you here because Brown University officials confirmed that the suspect was a PhD student for a brief time between 2000 and 2001. That was 25 years ago, really. No affiliation with Brown since. What does that tell you?

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST, BEHAVIORAL ANALYST: I said before we even knew the end of this story that this sounds like a grudge collector. Now, again, the statistics are that about 35 percent of these kind of campus shooters are current students, but another 10 are former students. And those former students can hold a grudge, as we have just found out, for decades.

We don't know exactly what happened in his experience there. He was only there for a number of months. What we do know is that the connection apparently between Brown and the MIT professor is that he had been dismissed as a teaching assistant in Lisbon at that university where the MIT professor graduated the same year. So, there is a connection between all of this when we look back at two decades ago.

COATES: I want to go right to the Providence police chief. Brian Todd is standing with him. Brian, I'm desperate to hear what he has to say.

TODD: Right, Laura. Here is Police Chief Oscar Perez. Chief, thank you. It has been a long night. From what you know, what can you tell us about a possible motive for both the Brown shooting and the MIT shooting, which you have connected to this one man?

OSCAR L. PEREZ, JR., CHIEF, PROVIDENCE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Yes, we don't have a motive. As you know, this developed extremely quickly. At this point, we're going to look further into it. We're working very closely with our partners, our federal partners, to find out more.

But I can tell you that the city is relieved. I think that the men and women of this department are second to none. Our detective division did their job. But we haven't really learned the motive. It's very difficult to know much about an individual when you don't know their identity and their name but we do now, obviously, and so we'll do that job.

TODD: The second person who was involved in this, the person who came within proximity to him.

PEREZ: Correct.

TODD: Such a dramatic break. You really can't underestimate how dramatic that was, right? Talk us through that. What that man did for you in this investigation?

PEREZ: It was dramatic in the sense that we had already video footage, right? And we were observing two individuals interacting with each other. We didn't know if they knew each other. We knew we had a person of interest. And then we have this second individual that's sort of like having an interaction. At one point, even chasing that person.

TODD: He chased him?

PEREZ: Correct, chased him. And so, we didn't know if there was an argument going on. We weren't sure. And so, there's a lot of doubts, right? You don't even know if that -- is the other domestic? Was that -- was he -- was that other person even involved in this horrific incident? So, those were questions.

So, when we came forward and actually verify and corroborate it, what we were thinking, that he didn't know the person, that the only reason he chased after him was he was trying to learn more about him because he had seen him inside Brown, that they had a disagreement inside Brown.

And then he provided us with a description of a vehicle that this person, this subject of interest, was manipulating, had a fog, was locking it, opened the door. So, we knew that that was this person's vehicle. That was a break, in the sense that he gave us a description for a car.

TODD: Backing up just a little bit here.

PEREZ: Yes, yes.

TODD: He had a disagreement with him. He had some kind of an argument with him. Any more detail on that? And how long before the shooting was that confrontation, that argument?

PEREZ: Yes, that was before. That was before --

TODD: How long before do you know?

PEREZ: It happened around two o'clock or so.

TODD: OK.

PEREZ: And so, yes, it was a few hours prior. But he called his attention. And to your point, sometimes, it's just those moments. We're a police department. We're looking for anything. But we may already had more. The only thing is that we didn't know what type of car. By placing the car into the system flock, license plates, readers, then we learned the real vehicle, learned the real plate, then we learned that he had rented it, the person of interest, and that's what led us to --

TODD: Did this other person, though, did he say what made him suspicious about this alleged shooter? What got -- what got into his mind that this guy is bad news?

[23:34:59]

PEREZ: Yes. Well, he was -- the tipster was actually a Brown graduate. He spent a lot of time at Brown. It seems to me that he's part of that community, and he realized that that's someone he had never seen before, and that's what called his attention.

TODD: Talk to me about the final moments of the shooter's life? Was he -- did he kill himself as law enforcement was close to him or do you think he might have done it hours before? When do think he might have done this?

PEREZ: So, the development, that occurred just before we started the press conference. And so, I'm not really sure if that happened prior or before, but I know the FBI evidence recovery unit is up there. Also, my BCI is up there and my detectives. So, I'm not sure how long he was there for, but I'm sure the medical examiner will be able to find that answer out.

TODD: Anything else you can tell us about this alleged shooter's personal life? He lived in Miami. Did you talk to any family and friends? Did they come forward? Did you get any other information about what he was doing for a job?

PEREZ: No, no, nothing yet. Again, we just found out his identity late last night. And our mission and priority were to put him in handcuffs. And so, we placed every energy there was. We came in extremely early this morning, and we're still here. It's almost midnight. And so, our mission was to make -- to make an apprehension. And, obviously, when we -- the tactical team entered the storage unit, we found out he had taken his own life.

TODD: You heard a lot of questions to the university president and the police chief about the cameras, the lack of cameras in the building. What's your view on that? I know you're not the police chief of Brown University. Should the building have had more cameras in the old part where the shooting took place? Could those have made a difference in the investigation?

PEREZ: Listen, we have a great relationship with Brown. I think that as an icon, I work very closely with the chief, and I'm sure that they're going to look. Like the president stated, they're going to look at whatever it is that they need to look at to fix whatever is that they need to fix.

But we're here to assist, and we're here to keep the city safe. And so, at the end of the day, I'm here, we're going to talk and realize if there's anything that we can change and fix and help. But I think they do a great job. They are partners of us.

TODD: Lastly, chief, just give us and our viewers a sense of how you feel at this moment, your sense of relief, the sense of relief that this city is now feeling.

PEREZ: I feel three things. First and foremost, I feel relief. I feel that we brought justice to the family, the victims, the parents, mom and dad. And, obviously, I also feel extremely proud of this department. I think that 32 years of service, I've never seen anything like this. But I know that I'm part of a great team and this is the reason I put this uniform on a daily basis.

TODD: We thank you for your time, chief. Thank you for the investigation and good luck. Thank you, sir.

So, there you have it, Laura. There's the police chief with just some added information. I think what can't really be understated here is this dramatic confrontation that the second person had with the shooter. He said at about 2:00 p.m., that's about two hours before the shooting, confronts him in a bathroom, senses that this guy is just not right. Basically, he chased him, chased him away. Very dramatic account there. Unfortunately, he didn't prevent the shooting.

But he then comes back. And as soon as he sees that he -- I'm talking about the second person -- comes back and soon as he sees that the police are looking for him for information and put his image out there, he comes forward immediately.

And in the words of the attorney general, Peter Neronha, this second person blows the case wide open, leads them to the car, to the name, to the clothing, to the satchel, to everything. This second person's involvement, just crucial here. Laura?

COATES: So important for his vigilance and, of course, underscores the point. Daniel Brunner, I want to go back to Casey Jordan and you on this point after Brian Todd's excellent interview. It underscores the point of how impactful and how useful the public's participation was here. And, of course, we all can't help but think of what might have been had he been able to confront and prevent. But what he did here was nothing short of heroic to be able to give information.

Daniel, talk to me about what you heard from that police chief and the way in which this has unfolded. Describe your reaction to this investigation.

DANIEL BRUNNER, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Well, this investigation covered many different areas of excitement and concern. At the beginning, from my understanding from people I've talked to and from what we saw clearly at the press conferences, there was -- there was friction between the federal authorities and the local authorities between Providence and Brown University. There was friction. That can't be there. I'm not saying that that is one of the reasons why it was delayed, but there cannot be the friction.

These people train, all law enforcement agencies train for large scale events. FBI has some of the best resources in the world for evidence response, you know, crisis response, having victim specialists, cellular analysis, and they come in and they're able to hit the ground running. They've trained for this, a massive operation. So, having this, having partners like this is a great operation, having everyone work together, having a parallel investigation.

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Providence Police Department clearly in charge. They are the ones leading the investigation. But the FBI is right there parallel, collecting evidence, having a federal case in case this is something that could go federal. And if there are additional targets and subject of interest that they can investigate and possibly arrest, assisting Providence Police Department in their investigation.

COATES: You have to imagine that the investigation will continue and expand in spite of this person's death. Daniel Brunner, Casey Jordan, thank you both so much.

We have so much more on the breaking news. Ahead, we'll take you back live to New Hampshire, where we are learning new information about the facility where the gunman was found dead. Stay with us.

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COATES: We're following the breaking news this very hour. The suspect in the Brown shooting was found at a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire. We're also learning that the same suspect was responsible for the killing of an MIT professor at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts on Monday. The alleged shooter and the professor are both from Portugal and attended the same academic program in that country in the late 1990s.

I want to get back to Salem, New Hampshire where the gunman was found dead. Danny, there are some activity happening at that storage facility. What are you seeing?

FREEMAN: There certainly is, Laura. So, just in the past few moments, that tow truck that I believe I described to you when I first joined you a little earlier in the hour just exited this storage facility with a car on its back that was covered in a grayish tarp completely. Now, we have no reason to believe that that is anything other than the car that is in question here.

What was interesting is that we've been watching federal investigators standing over there by that car, methodically taking pictures all over that car before ultimately putting that tarp over and sending it away.

You can bet that that car, which has been so crucial to this investigation, is now going to continue to be processed for any evidence that could confirm these accusations, basically, from law enforcement officials that this was indeed the suspect who they have been looking for in both the Brown University shooting and, of course, the killing of that MIT professor.

Laura, it has been really interesting being out here. What was a bit of a circus earlier has continued to dwindle down now that it was confirmed that the suspect was found inside of his storage unit with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

It's fascinating because this area of Salem, New Hampshire, 80 miles north of Providence, where that mass shooting happened at Brown University, has become so crucial because this was the area where they found the car, the mask, a satchel and guns next to the suspect on the ground inside of the storage unit. This whole area, you can bet, is going to continue to be processed even though the car still at this point is gone, Laura.

COATES: And we haven't even seen the processing inside of the facility where he was found dead as well. We know that from our great Brian Todd's interview with the police chief. We're waiting for the medical examiner to determine the time of death. Danny Freeman, thank you so much.

I want to go back to CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller. John, how important is this car in tying both these shootings together?

MILLER: Well, it's going to be essential. You've got two firearms in there. So, steps that have to be taken now are, you know, they have their search warrant, they've got to deal with the medical examiner and the body of the suspect.

But ATF has to take both of those weapons and run them through the NIBIN system. The NIBIN system will allow them to match shell casings fired from that weapon to the shell casings. And when I say shell casings, 44 shell casings recovered at the scene of that shooting. One spent round -- I mean, one unfired round, which may have been from clearing a jam. But that means -- that means he ejected 44 shell casings. It means he went through a 30-round magazine, which is an extended magazine, and another one. Through the NIBIN system, they'll do the microscopic analysis, and they will scientifically connect that gun to the crime scene if they are a match.

Then there is DNA that was recovered on shell casings. And possibly, one of these magazines, they have the suspect, they can extract DNA, they can make the DNA match. So, the things that are going to make him positively identified or not are the evidence in that car.

COATES: These were students. Students.

MILLER: Yes.

COATES: John Miller, thank you so much.

MILLER: Thanks.

COATES: Even more breaking news tonight, a judge in Wisconsin found guilty after helping an immigrant evade federal agents in her own courtroom. The reporter who was in court for the late-night verdict tells us all about it.

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COATES: More breaking news tonight, this time out of Wisconsin, where Judge Hannah Dugan has been found guilty of obstruction. Remember, she's the judge who was accused of helping an undocumented immigrant dodge federal authorities back in April. She's now facing up to five years in prison.

Editor-in-chief and co-founder of All Rise News, Adam Klasfeld, joins me now. He was inside the courtroom for this trial. Adam, walk us through this verdict.

ADAM KLASFELD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AND CO-FOUNDER, ALL RISE NEWS: Well, there was a telltale sign. As the jury walked into the courtroom, they did not make eye contact with the defendant. And that's often a sign. That is one of the things that I always look for.

And they did come out with a guilty verdict on the top count, the obstruction count, as you noted. They cleared her on the misdemeanor charge and there was -- that might have to do with jury instructions. But it might very much figure into Judge Dugan's appeal.

Her attorneys delivered a statement after it, and that they were the same elements. So, we could see a glimpse of what is coming ahead.

COATES: So, what now for her? Has she been stepped back, so to speak, awaiting a sentence or what comes next?

KLASFELD: So, a sentencing date has not yet been sent. She is likely going to appeal. The attorney said this is not the end. This has been an extraordinary trial, Laura.

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There were nearly 20 witnesses by the government. Judge Duggan called for her own. This is a trial that has divided folks in Milwaukee. When she was arrested, there were hundreds of people who showed up at the courthouse. One of the witnesses, a character witness in her defense, was a former mayor of Milwaukee, Tom Barrett.

So, we're going to be hearing a lot more from the community. A lot came out about how Milwaukee County Circuit Court has been reacting to ICE enforcement in the courtroom. So, there's -- what's going to happen next is, of course, her sentencing, her appeal and, of course, the community will respond as well.

COATES: Adam Klasfeld, thank you. You can get more information from him at allrisenews.com. I want to thank all of you for watching as we've unfolded with this manhunt investigation. Elex Michaelson is picking up our breaking news coverage, next.

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