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The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Police Swarm Storage Facility In Brown University Manhunt; Officials Believe Brown Univ. Suspect May Be Inside Storage Unit; Brown University Shooting Suspect Found Dead. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired December 18, 2025 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:00]
JULIETTE KAYYEM, WRITER AND FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR POLICY AT THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: --and the story that every community wants to hear is that he is captured. We'll figure out the why and were the two killings -- or the two incidents related, later on.
So, we might, you know, and we might be here a while, and as they make sure they get him safely, and that he does no harm, obviously, to anyone there--
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: Yes.
KAYYEM: --and to himself. And to himself. I mean, you know that the -- the goal here is to have a prosecution--
COOPER: Yes.
KAYYEM: --and make him face justice.
COOPER: Thanks to everyone. I appreciate it.
I hope you join me in 15 minutes for my live show at CNN.com/AllThereIs.
The news continues right now. "THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" starts now.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN HOST, THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS: As we come on the air tonight, we're following major breaking news here at CNN, in the manhunt for a killer on campus.
Our law enforcement sources tell us that they believe they have identified a suspect in the mass shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island. They believe they know who did this.
And right now, on the sixth day of this manhunt that has taken some real turns, authorities are swarming an area that is all the way north in Salem, New Hampshire, which is what you're looking at here, and is where they say they have found a car that has a license plate they believe is connected to this suspect, whom they have yet to name publicly.
That's not all, because we're also learning this evening that the Feds are also looking into a potential connection, and I'll stress the word, potential, there, between last weekend's mass shooting in Rhode Island, and the killing of a professor at another elite school, MIT, that happened two days later, about 50 miles away, in the Boston suburb of Brookline.
CNN's Danny Freeman is in Salem, New Hampshire.
But first I want to go to CNN's John Miller, who's been working his sources on this investigation.
And John, what's the latest you're learning about what is happening in this scene that's playing out right now?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT & INTEL ANALYST: Well, this all comes together with the reporting from the Justice team in Washington, Evan Perez, Holmes Lybrand, and the people I've been talking to.
So, the consensus is that authorities believe that the suspect is contained to a specific storage unit within that complex. Federal authorities, I am told, have obtained a federal search warrant, which will allow them to make entry there. For the specific subject that they believe to be inside, they've already obtained an arrest warrant. But this is a very careful stage that we are in here.
So, you know, there's a number of ways, now that they've obtained that warrant, that they can make that entry. One is with people. Another is with robotic tools, where they can look around inside, before they go with people, or drones. And whatever tactic they use tonight, what we're going to know is that it's not something they came up with on the fly.
The tactical people have been meeting. They've been talking. They've been looking at the available tools. And what we're going to see is a very cautious approach here, because they won't know exactly what they're going to be looking at on the other side of that door.
COLLINS: Well, and John, can we talk about what led them to this facility in the first place? Because obviously, there had been them putting out these images of the person of interest here. Then we were talking about ID-ing a suspect. What led them to this facility that we've been -- that we've been watching with this -- all this interaction and action happen tonight.
MILLER: Well, we'll go step by step.
At some point in the last 24 to 48 hours, they developed a witness who believed he had seen a suspicious person get into a car. They were able to get the license plate from the witness of that car. That led to them searching for that car, but also researching who was connected with that car, which led them to a name.
That led them digging into that person's background, and then comparing some connections between that person, potentially the case in Boston, the murder of the MIT professor there, the investigators' belief that the car was using different sets of license plates, one in Rhode Island, the other in Massachusetts, and that led them to alert all of their systems for any contact with this car.
Now, later this afternoon, a license plate reader in New Hampshire flagged that car going by. A grid search was set out to locate whether that car was in the area, and it was located by this storage area, which led them to make contact with the people there, and then get to the point where they believe, based on their review of the video there and records there, that they may have this person isolated to that one unit.
So, that's where we came from and where we are right now.
COLLINS: Well, and John, I want to note, as you're reporting this out, we were supposed to see a press conference from officials at about 4 o'clock today Eastern. That did not happen yet.
We did just hear a few moments ago that we are expecting in the next 15 minutes to have that press conference and to hear from officials.
We'll wait to see, obviously, who's there and what they have to say, and how this scene that we've been watching play out before our eyes, on-camera, factors into all of this and what this means.
I want to go to Danny Freeman, who is on the ground outside of where all this happening -- where all this is happening.
[21:05:00]
Danny, can you just tell us what you've been seeing since you've gotten there?
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, of course, Kaitlan.
What we're seeing is an increasingly intensifying scene, and just listening to John and describe his reporting, and Evan's, and Holmes' as well, all of that we're seeing play out right here.
Voice of FREEMAN: So basically, what you have right here, this is Hampshire Road, just in the Salem, New Hampshire area. And in just the past, honestly, Kaitlan, 10 minutes or so, we've seen a massive amount of law enforcement cars arrive here.
And then most of the folks who were getting out of those law enforcement cars, including some of the ones right around this larger vehicle that you're looking at with flashing lights, they have been wearing FBI jackets. So, it really does seem like the FBI has arrived on scene here, in force, as these evening hours go on.
Now, this area, Kaitlan, it's actually very interesting. I was talking with a few locals, and they were explaining there are a number of storage unit complexes in here. Where we believe the focus is, where we see the helicopters flying around, is a little bit down this road, right here, Hampshire Road. But again, it's been incredibly active here. It's been blocked off for hours. Police really scouring this entire area.
And one local, Kaitlan, that I was speaking with also noted that there are areas in this vicinity that if you were trying to hide, you could. Although, according to John Miller and this new reporting, it seems that law enforcement officials, perhaps after clearing some of the other wooded areas, have now isolated, they believe, this suspect to one specific storage unit.
But again, it's a fascinating scene out here, Kaitlan. There's a tremendous amount of media, in addition to a tremendous amount of law enforcement folks as well.
FREEMAN: And just a ton of people in the area--
Voice of FREEMAN: --who have just come through to basically look at this wild scene right here.
FREEMAN: Everyone in New England has been watching both of these stories intensely, watching this manhunt intensely. One person, Kathy (ph), who I was being with, was just shocked that something like this could have come here. But she was telling me that she and so many other New Englanders have been watching these stories, watching this manhunt take place, hoping that if it has to come here, that justice is served here.
So again, very active right here. We just saw an influx of law enforcement, as I mentioned, FBI agents in particular. We're waiting here to see really what comes next, here in New Hampshire, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Yes. And obviously, this is just about 90-minutes-drive north of Brown and where that shooting happened, over the weekend, where those students were killed.
I've got Andrew McCabe and Steve Moore here with me.
Andrew McCabe, you're the former Deputy Director of the FBI. There have been real questions about this investigation, why we didn't know more about the suspect. It was described as a person of interest just a couple of hours ago.
And so, the question for you, that I want to know is, when we hear from the authorities here, in just a few moments, what are you going to be listening for, in terms of how this has progressed, given there's been so many updates just this evening alone.
ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, Kaitlan, I really, my gut feeling is that we're not going to hear from the authorities in Providence, until this situation that we're looking at on screen has been resolved.
And it may be resolved already. We've been there -- as we heard from Danny's reporting, they've been there for hours and hours. We've been watching it live for hours.
It's for -- honestly, for me, this -- there are a lot of similarities here to the 2023 Michigan State shooting, in which you had an individual who first conducted a shooting inside the -- a classroom at Michigan State University, and then attacked in another location, and ultimately escaped from the scene and hid in a Conex (ph) container and took his own life.
This is not the kind of location that somebody who was on the run would go to, to stay in temporarily, waiting until the heat died down, and they could then continue to move. This -- it'd be hard to do any of that here.
You can't live in this building. Once you're inside of it, or inside a unit, you can't see what's going on outside, so you can't keep track of whether or not you're being watched or there's law enforcement around. So, I think that it's certainly possible and maybe even likely that if this person is in a storage unit in this facility, they may have actually taken their own life or plan to do so there.
But we're probably not going to hear from authorities until there is some kind of resolution here, because this is clearly the story of this case right now that is happening, as we watch it, in Salem, New Hampshire.
COLLINS: Well, and that's -- yes, that's the question I had is, is if they are preparing to update the media and the public, after five hours of pushing and delaying that.
And Steve Moore. In terms of this person, one thing that John Miller was reporting earlier was that very clearly, they were trying to evade being detected and being identified. Because if this car that they had seen here, which it is actually what draw -- drew them to -- to have that possible connection with the MIT professor shooting, if they were changing the license plates or whatnot. I mean, obviously they were trying to evade detection here.
[21:10:00]
STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR, RETIRED SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: Yes, and that's unusual when you -- when you talk about mass shootings, school shootings, think active shooters. They don't -- they don't do that. They don't expect to get away. They don't -- most of them don't want to get away. They expect to die. So, this is something totally different.
I don't think anymore that this was random. I think that this person was attempting to do something very specific, just based on the totality of the circumstances. And picking up different license plates and swapping them out shows a lot of trade crafts, information that they learned, they studied, or were told, or were taught, on how to do all these things.
COLLINS: Andrew McCabe, when you look at that, in terms of this possible connection that we were, you know, found out about earlier. That stuck out to me so much, because we had just heard from authorities, earlier this week, when they were asked if they believe they were connected, and we heard from the Special Agent of the FBI is -- in charge in Boston saying, that they didn't believe that there was any connection. And obviously, that changed once they recognized this car was the common thread between what happened at Brown, and what happened with the shooting of this MIT professor.
MCCABE: Yes, that's right.
I think on it's -- on the surface, without any underlying evidence to establish a clear connection, I think on the surface, those two crimes look very different, you know?
The Brown shooting seemed to be seen as -- as Steve mentioned, had a kind of a random feel to it. And we have this person of interest who's kind of like wandering around in the neighborhood for hours before he does it. That almost supports that theory.
But the -- but the shooting at MIT seemed to be, and appears to be, like very personal. It didn't take place just in some random classroom at MIT. It was actually in the home of the professor who was murdered. So, that seemed -- that certainly suggests, like some sort of a personal interaction, or even a personal relationship between the two. So, they felt very different.
My guess, when I heard the Boston SAC -- the FBI SAC's comments about the two not being related earlier in the week, I thought to myself, That's, yes, they're -- they're not until they are, right?
At that point, I don't think the FBI or anybody had any evidence or information, indicating a connection between the two. But we got that today, when there was this overlap between the use of the vehicle. And the investigators in Massachusetts were aware of or looking for the same sort of vehicle that we then found ourselves looking for here in the Brown situation.
So, yes, you just never know where these investigations are going to go. That's why it's so important for investigators to always keep an open mind and a wide aperture to understand, to not to jump to conclusions, to follow every lead as far as they can. But you've got to be ready for some twists and turns in these really big cases.
COLLINS: And Steve Moore, we're watching these images taken outside this facility in Salem, New Hampshire. We just saw three individuals walk outside.
One thing that has stood out to me, as we've been watching this scene play out, is there doesn't seem to be a ton of urgency, in terms of people coming in and out of the building. I wonder what has stood out to you, as you've been looking at these pictures that we're seeing tonight.
MOORE: Yes, I've spent several years on tactical teams like that. I think Andy also spent a lot of time on tactical teams. And there's this feeling you get from watching them, when you get the people out there, and they're on cellphones, they're not standing around together, discussing the case or what they're going to do next. It is a -- it is downtime. It is, we're waiting for our next instructions. There may be a team inside that has a perimeter. But right now, you're seeing a lot of people who are not actively involved in any kind of activity here.
The other thing is, I just wanted to point out that I had a case where there was an active shooter who shot a bunch of kids at a school. And two hours later, we had another shooting, a targeted shooting, about two hours away or two -- I'm sorry, two hours later, and it was only a half -- half an hour drive away.
And I remember the first thing that the police in the area said, Oh, it can't be related to this. And we just sent agents over and said, If there are casings on the ground, would you take a picture of them and send them to us? They did. And they matched the casings that were on the ground where we were.
COLLINS: Wow.
MOORE: So sometimes there's a desire to pooh-pooh these things,
COLLINS: Yes, and I mean, clearly, everyone in this community has been on edge as this manhunt has been going on, waiting to see what is going to happen.
[21:15:00]
We're obviously waiting to hear from the police, the authorities. And in just a few moments, they are expected to hold a press conference. It was scheduled to start over five hours ago. We are now told that we are going to hear from them in just a few moments. We'll take that to you live, here on CNN, after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We're following breaking news this hour, as the manhunt for the suspect in the Brown University mass shooting has now led police tonight, to swarm an area in Salem, New Hampshire.
Our law enforcement sources are telling us that authorities do believe the suspect may be inside a specific storage unit in this facility that we've been showing you, where officials have surrounded it.
[21:20:00]
And we are expecting to hear from officials any moment now, when they're going to hold a news conference. We'll cover that live, and bring it live to you, when it happens.
CNN's Brian Todd is standing by in Providence.
I want to get straight to CNN's John Miller though first. He's been working his sources on this investigation.
And John Miller, what's the latest that you've been hearing?
MILLER: Well, that they obtained their search warrant to enter that location, the location they believed he was inside, that they have their arrest warrant. And what we don't know is, at this stage, officially, what the status of that is. But from the time that we find out, whether he's in custody, or whether, during the time he was in there, he took his own life, or some other scenario, we will be really on the precipice of the very next question, which we have very little visibility on, which is, what is the why behind it, and if there are these two cases connected, the Boston murder of an MIT professor, and the mass shooting at Brown University, what do they have to do with each other if the same perpetrator is behind them?
So, while we wait for authorities to announce what the outcome of that entry was officially, the next question is going to be, if we know the who, what was the why?
COLLINS: Well, and John, I've got two other questions for you.
One, if we're waiting to hear from officials, right now, in Rhode Island, that's what the image that we're showing there, where the room is set up for a press conference. Supposed to happen at 4 o'clock today, and obviously has been delayed, understandably, as a lot of actions been happening tonight. We'll see what those officials say in a moment.
I'm also hearing that there is going to be a press conference in Boston coming up as well. I mean, I wonder what that says to you, after you were reporting earlier about this potential connection between the shooting at Brown University and the murder of that MIT professor.
MILLER: Right. And there are these threads, Kaitlan, that connect the two. One of the threads is the car. The other of the threads is the history of the suspect that they have been searching for, and the MIT professor, where they crossed over, at one point, in the same educational institution.
Now, that we've been able to establish by going back through and researching that. However, it doesn't tell us whether they were friends, whether they knew each other, whether they were competitors, whether they were colleagues. We still have, and I imagine authorities do, these same gaps that we may fill in.
But the root of your question, which is, there's going to be a press conference in Providence and one in Boston, really kind of underscore is that these two cases are connected, because they are about to have nearly simultaneous announcements about the developments in their individual matters.
COLLINS: Yes. Any indication, John, of how much we're going to learn at either of these? Have you been able to discern any of that from the folks you've been speaking with?
MILLER: So, I think we're going to learn a little and not everything we want to know. I think we're going to learn what the status of the suspect is, whether he is alive and in custody or otherwise.
I think we will learn a little bit about how they were brought on to this suspect. And we know, that involves an alert witness who recorded a license plate and gave that to police, which began to fit in with other pieces.
Voice of MILLER: What I don't think we're going to learn, and we'll wait and see, is if they have had enough time to delve into the background, enough to find a clear motive for the Brown University shooting or the Boston one.
Voice of COLLINS: And John. You mentioned the license plate change, and this car that helped them draw the connection between the two of these. One thing that Brian Stelter texted me, that I also am curious about is, how did they figure out? How did the authorities figure out?
And I just want to note, we're watching people coming in and out of this building where this storage facility is that you were talking about, the unit that they got the search warrant for.
Do we know how they found out that the license plate on this car had been changed?
Voice of MILLER: They had a description of a car with a license plate in Boston, and they had a description of a exactly similar car with a different license plate in Providence. And then they began to track this vehicle using license plate readers and other measures, where they found that license plate readers, where they thought they was tracking the same vehicle at different times, seemed to have different license plates on it.
So, this is a marriage of all of the technology they were using that -- and the similarities and the crossover between the crimes, and the one license plate from Florida, the other license plate from Maine appearing on the same vehicle.
[21:25:00]
And without getting into these details yet, the authorities that I've been speaking to said, that the suspect in this case used a number of different countermeasures, beyond the license plates, including things with phones and other things, to try and avoid continuous tracking or detection.
Voice of COLLINS: Well, John, given that, Andrew McCabe raised a few moments ago this possibility, and we'll wait to hear officials confirm it, if it is the case of a self-inflicted gunshot wound here, and as that being a possibility of what happened inside this.
COLLINS: We don't know yet, obviously, in a reportable fashion.
If you're taking all these measures to evade detection and not be identified, is that typical, that that is how that that would potentially end up, based on your experience and your reporting?
MILLER: Well, I mean, we go by, you know, we go by the past history.
One of the things Andy McCabe mentioned was the case in Lewiston, Maine, where an individual shot up a public event, at a public place, wounded and killed a number of people, and then went on the run, only to take his own life inside a storage container in a junkyard where he was once employed.
So, you see the contrast between that and say, the Buffalo supermarket shooting, where the individual tried to kill as many people as possible. And when police arrived, he surrendered. And his writings ahead of time mentioned that that was one of his goals.
So, you see different offender characteristics. But I think in the cases where they take their own life, after trying to make a getaway, you see that they come to the realization that they wanted to strike out, they wanted to do this thing, they wanted to get away, and that now it is not going the way they planned, and that they want to take control of the events, take control of their own destiny and make their own decisions. And we've seen that in a number of these cases.
Remember, as we spoke the other night, there's three general outcomes in these things, that they confront police during the event, during the active-shooter event, and that they're shot or wounded or killed by police. The second is they take their own life right there. Or the third is they surrender.
It is very rare in these active-shooter cases that they try and escape from the scene and make that getaway. And in this case, that's what led to this manhunt. And yet, the ending circles around to likely what we've seen before. But we've really got to wait for authorities to tell us what the situation was that they found once they got inside there.
COLLINS: Yes.
And that's where Brian Todd is right now, as we're waiting to hear more on this front, from the authorities, and what they can say hours after this press conference was scheduled to happen.
And Brian Todd, tell us the latest of what's happening inside the room.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kaitlan, we're told that this news conference will happen at approximately 09:30. They kept pushing it later and later, though. So, we obviously are going have to have some patience here. So it could start at 09:30. Could start maybe a little after that. But we do get the distinct impression it's going to start very soon.
And as John and you were talking about, these are going to be some key dots that we're going to have to connect. And hopefully, this news conference will allow us to do that.
Clearly, where the suspect moved, from Providence to the MIT area, if indeed these two cases are connected, and that could, again, the information on that could come very soon. How the person moved the vehicle, which they used, which John, in his great reporting, has really kind of connected with us, that they believe that the vehicles in both cases were very similar, if not the same vehicle, and that the license plates did match.
So, some of those details hopefully will be pieced together in this news conference. And of course, the key detail that we hope to learn, the name. John had reported earlier today that they had identified the suspect and were seeking him. Well, looks like things are coming to a resolution here, one way or the other, so we would hope that they would give us a name.
Now, as far as the motive. That might be -- that might be a little bit more tough to come by, given what the circumstances could be here. But if the person is alive, obviously, the motive could become a little more clear, a little more early. But if he is deceased, then that's going to be tougher to piece together. But, again, the fact that these two cases possibly, possibly could be connected, might make it a little easier for them to establish a motive.
COLLINS: Yes. And Brian, do we know exactly who we're going to be hearing from at this press conference coming up?
I know -- because what we're hearing is that there's going to be two press conferences, this evening, in Rhode Island, another one in Boston, obviously, as there have been questions about this connection. Boston, obviously, not far and just a suburb, basically outside of Salem.
Do we know what we're going to hear from and who we're going to hear from in Rhode Island?
[21:30:00]
TODD: Well, Kaitlan, we do expect to hear from the Mayor of Providence, Brett Smiley.
We do expect to hear, of course, from Oscar Perez -- Colonel Oscar Perez. He's the Chief of Police of the Providence police.
We do expect that Ted Docks, the FBI Special Agent in Charge in this area, will be here.
Possibly Peter Neronha, the Attorney General from Rhode Island, has been very good about giving information at these news conferences.
Voice of TODD: I -- myself and other journalists saw the Governor of Rhode Island, Dan McKee, come in here. As well as the President of Brown University, Christina Paxson, we saw her enter the building.
So, you'll see probably a lot of very important people up on that podium.
Voice of COLLINS: OK. Brian Todd, we'll obviously check back in with you as we are waiting to learn more.
John Miller, if you're still here with me, when it comes to the scene that we've been watching play out, in Salem, tonight, a heavy, heavy police presence surrounding this place, where we believe this storage unit was linked to this individual. Do we know who it is that is actually there on the ground? Are those federal agents that we can see, in terms of who's actually inside that facility? Voice of MILLER: So yes, we know that Providence police are on the scene. We know that the FBI is on the scene, and we know that FBI tactical people, from the Boston Field Division, are on the scene, as well as New Hampshire State Police, Massachusetts State Police, and some of their tactical people, with the local police from that town. So, there's been plenty of resources there. But at some point, they make a decision.
And we're looking at some tactical people move here on the left side of the screen that was shot earlier.
At some point, they make a decision about who is going to take the tactical lead on making that entry, and that could have been any one of those agencies on the scene, and that is how that was resolved.
COLLINS: What else has stood out to you, John Miller?
Voice of MILLER: Well, what stood out to me is that they have been aware of this person's identity for some time.
And that the number of things that this suspect did to avoid capture, to put distance between himself, his awareness around this, has been really interesting to watch. In that, you know, authorities threw an enormous effort at this case, to bring this person into custody, and a lot of resources, a lot of technology.
Look at the videos they came up with. Look at the video canvas it took to do that. Look at the map they were able to build. And yet, it was a couple of witnesses in different places that came up with this car description, the connection between Boston made by saying, Well, wait a minute, is that the same car, but different plates? How can we figure that out?
A lot of that effort that was painstaking came together very quickly today, and led to this kind of day-long manhunt.
Voice of COLLINS: Well, and we have focused so much, John, on just obviously, what's been going on, with the Brown University shooting and the students there who were killed.
The MIT professor was something that, you know, I mean initially, because the authorities had said, We don't believe they're connected, had not gotten as much attention in terms of the suspect there.
And so, this revelation today that they are connected potentially, and it sounds like we're about to hear a lot more from the authorities on that. I wonder, had you been hearing anything from your sources in days before this connection was made, saying that there is something here, or had they not been on that track at all?
Voice of MILLER: Well, they looked into it immediately. Ted Docks, the Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Office contacted the Massachusetts State Police, who was in touch with the Brookline police, and they delved into it.
And the nature of the two crimes, one, a mass shooting, one, a particularly targeted shooting to an individual -- I guess we're going to our press conference now -- were so different, that they didn't appear connected immediately. But it's the investigation that brought them together,
Voice of COLLINS: Yes.
And obviously, we'll wait to see if these officials here in Rhode Island have -- what information they have.
And I should note to our viewers, that what we're about to hear from officials, this is a press conference that we thought was going to happen five and a half hours ago. It's now expected to happen here, 09:34 p.m. Eastern. And we're waiting to hear from those officials that Brian just mentioned.
We are also expecting a press conference to happen in Boston tonight, as well, on this exact connection here, potentially that has happened and what that could look like.
So, we'll be watching, obviously, both of these, very closely, to see what officials have to say.
Let's listen in.
[21:35:00]
MAYOR BRETT SMILEY, (D) PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: Good evening, everybody.
Tonight, our Providence neighbors can finally breathe a little easier.
In a minute, Colonel Perez will share the latest details on the investigation.
But I want to thank the people of Providence, for stepping up and coming together, during an extraordinarily difficult time. I know this has been hard on all of us. Over the past five days, minutes have felt like hours. But the people of Providence have done what we're best at. We've leaned on one another, come together and supported one another, and showed the nation what a tight-knit community looks like.
It was because of the information provided to us by neighbors, and the tireless work of our Providence Police Department, the Rhode Island State Police, the FBI, the ATF, and many other federal partners, the incredible prosecutorial advice and guidance that we received from the Attorney General's Office, we all worked well together to be able to identify this suspect.
I know we will have a lot of questions still, and we will continue to work to get those answers.
But it is a great honor for me to turn this over to our Chief of Police, Colonel Oscar Perez. And I will say, on behalf of the people of Providence, we owe him, and every member of the Providence Police Department, the deepest debt of gratitude.
Colonel.
OSCAR L. PEREZ, JR., PROVIDENCE CHIEF OF POLICE: Thank you very much, Mayor.
Well, first and foremost, I want to offer my deepest condolences to the families, the victims. It was for them that his work was put together, to make sure that they get the justice that they deserve, and to ensure that this person was held accountable.
Second thing I'll tell you is that I'm extremely proud of this department, actually, the officers, the detectives, the Real Time Crime Center, the Community Response Team, the Intelligence Division, the Narcotics Division, the Task Force.
This past Saturday, as you all know, December 13, Providence Police Department and Brown University Police Department responded to this horrific tragedy at Brown University 184 Hope. Our officers were there within minutes. That same day, Providence police detectives immediately went to work, immediately went to work, looking for video footage to see who this individual was and who was responsible.
A person of interest was identified from that video footage. The person of interest was observed on Hope Street turning onto Waterman Street. And that was one of the first videos that we released.
At the same time, every federal agency you can think of was reaching out to the Providence Police Department and responded to the capital city. Images were shared with media within hours. Persons of interest is and same -- it was the same individual that has been the focus of this investigation since the beginning.
All the new images that we received of this person of interest were shared with the media, continuously, over the past six days. This critical evidence was collected with the use of public assistance, as the Mayor stated. I'm proud to be the Chief of Police of this city. I'm proud to be a product of this city. For the reasons that the Mayor stated, the community stepped up.
It was all about groundwork, public assistance, interviews of individuals, and good old-fashioned policing. That is the type of police work that every police officer in this nation reminds themselves of, and that many do not understand, and that is critically important, and often succeeds where technology alone cannot.
We looked at financial records. We looked at video footages. And in the specific incident, it was actually a video that provided us with a description of a vehicle. That was corroborated through a tip that was received to the tip center. That room was packed with detectives, agents receiving calls on a daily basis. We started early and left late.
[21:40:00]
And Flock and the LPR was able to provide us with this description of this vehicle. That vehicle was picked up by Flock, which led us to a car rental place in Massachusetts. Through that, the agents and their work as well were able to get us footage of this individual, as well as a copy of the agreement, which provided his real name. The video of that subject matched the description of that person of interest that this police department was desperate to put handcuffs on.
That individual was identified as Claudio Nueves Valente (ph), date of birth, and he was a 48-year-old man. He was a Brown student. He was a Portuguese national. And his last-known address was in Miami, Florida. And I will tell you that he took his own life tonight.
We have members of the Providence Police Department up in Salem Massachusetts -- New Hampshire, and we also have the BCI unit. Obviously, the FBI and their Evidence Recovery Unit is up there, so that process is being conducted as we speak.
And it goes without saying that I would like to personally thank the efforts, again, of the Providence Police Department, the Rhode Island State Police, the Rhode Island Attorney General, the FBI, the ATF, HSI, the U.S. Marshals, IRS, DEA, Secret Service, and NCIS. There is no way that we could have done this by ourselves. In this nation, when horrific incidents like this happen, law enforcement steps up.
Thank you very much.
SMILEY: Thank you, Colonel.
General Neronha.
PETER NERONHA, (D) RHODE ISLAND ATTORNEY GENERAL: Thank you.
Thank you, Mayor.
I would describe the emotions on the investigative team, including our prosecutors, and the agents, detectives from both State Police, Providence, is mixed.
You know, there is a sense of completeness in terms of the investigation, an investigation that's, if not the hardest among the handful of hardest investigations that I've ever been involved with, and the sense that we owed those two dead Brown students, and the nine injured Brown students, and the students who were in that auditorium that weren't injured, and the Brown community, and the Providence community, results.
And the teams worked really hard. I think I mentioned that to you almost every night that we met with you. I wish they were all up here with us, that -- we wouldn't fit here. But it just was remarkable to see the cooperation between the FBI agents, the ATF agents, the HSI agents, the Providence police detectives, the State Police detectives, our prosecutors. And I will say that everybody brought a certain expertise to the table.
But it is nevertheless a sad moment when you think about those young people who were hurt, injured, or worse, two of them are now deceased.
To me, this was always going to be an investigation where something was going to break it open. We were going to pull threads. We were going to gather evidence that would lead us in a particular direction.
And I will say that if -- we were with you less than, well, I guess now, more than 24 hours ago, we had that picture of that second individual. And I would say within an hour, no more than two, I think it was under an hour, 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's how these cases sometimes go. You can feel like you're not making a lot of progress. You can feel like you're chasing leads, and they don't work out. But the team keeps going. Because, you know, those of us with experience know that you're going to pull a lot of threads, and it's not always the first one that's going to get you where you need to go. But when you do crack it, you crack it.
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, that matched the satchel that we see here in Providence. He was found dead with a satchel with two firearms and evidence in the car that -- that matches exactly what we see at the scene here in Providence.
[21:45:00]
And so, I know that you and the public have questions about how we got from a place yesterday, where all we could share with you was a photograph of someone we wanted to talk to, to where we got to tonight.
And so, we have -- we got another -- state arrest warrant for murder today, that was signed by a district court judge for this individual. There won't be a prosecution now, of course. But that affidavit is on our website, and you will be able to see more, and read more, about how this investigation unfolded.
I won't get you all the way there, because there are some things that happened afterwards which led us to this, the suspect's body in New Hampshire. But it will, I think, tell you, give you a sense of the work that went into this by the line prosecutors, and the line agents and detectives, from the agencies that worked so well together.
So, you know, as I said, it's with mixed emotions, it is -- it is unimaginable the pain that the parents and families of the deceased are feeling tonight and will feel, undoubtedly, for quite a while. But I hope that by bringing this person to justice, that we can at least give them the beginnings of some measure of closure.
And I want to thank you all for your patience with me when I got a little testy with some of you. Those of you who know me from Rhode Island, you know that's my nature. So, I really want to thank you for your patience.
Thank you.
SMILEY: Thank you, General.
As has been said several times, the partnership with the FBI was invaluable. And so, it's a pleasure to introduce Special Agent in Charge of FBI, Ted Docks.
TED DOCKS, FBI, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Thank you, Mayor.
And good evening. My name is Ted Docks, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Boston.
We got him. Shortly before 9 o'clock tonight, the FBI SWAT team executed court-authorized search warrants at a storage unit facility in Salem, New Hampshire. This is where we located Claudio Nueves Valente (ph), the individual who we believe was responsible for the Brown shooting.
The latest developments in an intense five-day manhunt, and it's the result of incredible amount of work dedicated by the law enforcement team standing before you tonight. Every single agency brought their unique skills and expertise to this investigation, and were motivated by the victims and survivors of this horrific incident.
Even though the suspect was found dead tonight, our work is not done. There are many questions that need to be answered. There's a lot of evidence that needs to be processed. And most importantly, the victims and their families deserve special care and consideration.
The FBI and our partners across Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, will continue to search for answers for the victims, survivors, and their families to see what motivated this individual to carry out such a senseless act of violence.
From the onset of this critical incident, it's been all hands on deck. The FBI deployed approximately 500 special agents, analysts, Task Force officers and support personnel, to assist our partners in this investigation. In addition to this extra manpower, all our specialty teams were activated, including Evidence Response Team, SWAT, DVERT, and Victim Services Response Team, just to name a few.
A special thanks to you, the media, as well, as well as to the community.
My sincere thanks to Colonel Perez, Colonel Weaver, A.G. Neronha, Brown University PD, and all of our partners. This was truly a team effort.
Thank you.
SMILEY: Thank you.
Another critical partner at every step along the way was the ATF. I'd like to introduce Special Agent in Charge of the ATF, Tom Greco.
TOM GRECO, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, ATF BOSTON FIELD DIVISION: Good evening. My name is Tom Greco, Special Agent in Charge of ATF Boston. From the moment 911 reports of the shooting at Brown University came through, there's been an around-the-clock effort to identify the perpetrator and to protect the community.
[21:50:00]
The men and women of ATF, including our special agents, our intelligence research specialists, and our support personnel, have been proud to support and be part of that effort, leveraging our unique experience, dedicated investigators, K9 handlers, and Crime Gun Intelligence Technology, such as NIBIN, the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, to compare ballistic evidence, and our other available tools to support the investigation, and to help identify Claudio Nueves Valente (ph) as the individual that we believe was responsible.
ATF's mission, first and foremost, is to protect communities from violent crime. Each individual in this country deserves to live in peace and security, in their homes, in their schools, in their places of worship and in the streets. The actions of Claudio Nueves Valente (ph) stole that right and terrorized the community.
I'd like to emphasize to the public, this was a highly dangerous individual capable of extreme violence, and we are happy to have been part of this investigation, and proud, to have worked with our partners, to identify him and see this through.
Thank you very much.
SMILEY: Thank you very much.
From the very outset on Saturday, from our first press conference in the fire station to today, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee has been by Providence's side every step of the way. The City of Providence is incredibly grateful for the Governor's support, the State Police, not just their assistance with the investigation, but in supporting the broader community.
It's a pleasure to introduce Governor Dan McKee.
GOV. DAN MCKEE (D-RI): Thanks, Mayor, and clearly your staff, I feel the same way with the team that you have, that we were happily able to assist.
And as a former mayor, many here in the audience know that I've been a mayor, some don't, but I empathize and sympathize with the position that you were in, and the fact that you needed people to follow the lead of the Providence police, and to partner in with some extraordinary people, whether it's with the FBI, or the ATF and, of course, our State Police as well.
From the very beginning, my thoughts as a dad was with the families who suffered from the shooting. The unthinkable happened in our state. The unthinkable happened in Providence. The unthinkable happened at Brown University. And we're going to be forever changed. But our commitment from the state level is to continue to support Providence, Brown, and the people of the State of Rhode Island, in the recovery, that's going to take a great deal of time.
But I do say this. The professionalism that I saw in the law enforcement should make everyone that lives in our state, and beyond our borders, very -- feel very safe. These things happen, but it requires some professional help and law enforcement to bring it to the conclusion that we've been able to bring it to.
So Colonel, thank you. Everybody involved.
And again, we will stand with Providence, and Brown University, and the people of the State of Rhode Island, to provide the help that will be needed in the recovery in a trauma like this.
SMILEY: Thank you, Governor.
Throughout the year, the Rhode Island State Police is an incredible partner to Providence, but during this investigation, their support was invaluable.
I introduce Colonel of State Police, Colonel Weaver.
COLONEL DARNELL S. WEAVER, SUPERINTENDENT, RHODE ISLAND STATE POLICE, DIRECTOR, RHODE ISLAND DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: My name is Colonel Darnell Weaver, the Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police.
I want to begin by recognizing the excellent and exceptional efforts of the Providence Police Department and Colonel Oscar Perez.
From the very first moments of this investigation, the Providence Police Department has worked collaboratively and relentlessly, day and night, on this investigation, while protecting our capital city. Their detectives followed facts, developed evidence, and pursued every credible lead.
Colonel Perez's leadership has been steady and decisive, focused on identifying the person responsible for this tragedy.
[21:55:00]
As always, our troopers stepped up, working shoulder to shoulder with the Providence police, and our local, state and federal partners. I want to give particular recognition to our detectives, whose diligence and dedication contributed to this investigation. Our detectives and division leadership operated as a unified team, sharing intelligence, resources and expertise.
This has truly been an all-hands-on-deck investigation, as virtually every trooper has taken extra shifts to help support the efforts in Providence, and I have never been prouder to be a member of the Rhode Island State Police.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Rhode Island State Police, and this case stands out among one of the most challenging in our state's history. The sheer volume of digital evidence, the complexity of the investigation, and the intense public interest, played an extraordinary demands on everyone involved. Despite that pressure, investigators remained disciplined, methodical and focused on facts.
We are grateful for the assistance of the public, particularly those who shared our information, provided tips, and gave us doorbell camera footage and access to their property.
We are also thankful for the ongoing support of Rhode Islanders. We know that you have been with us through this entire investigation.
I also want to be very clear about something else. Criminal investigations are grounded in evidence, not speculation or online commentary. The endless barrage of misinformation, disinformation, rumors, leaks and clickbait were not helpful in this investigation. Distractions and unfounded criticisms do not support this work. They complicate it, and threaten to undermine the justice we seek for the victims and the grieving families. Despite these challenges, good police work prevailed, and we have lessons that we can bring forward from these long days ahead.
To the Brown University community, and the people of Rhode Island, be assured that this case reflects the law enforcement community, and what we are capable of, and that we are committed to this state. We will continue to support the victims and the broader community as the healing continues.
Thank you.
SMILEY: Thank you, Colonel.
Providence is so proud to be home to Brown University, and we are committed to working together with them, in the future, as they help heal their community, as we do our broader Providence community. We continue to give condolences to the deceased, and our prayers to those who are recovering.
The leader of Brown has been a great partner through this whole process. Like to introduce President Christina Paxson from Brown University.
CHRISTINA HULL PAXSON, PRESIDENT, BROWN UNIVERSITY: Thank you.
You know, nothing can really fully bring closure to the lives that have been shattered, over the past week. But this may allow our community to move forward and begin a path of repair and recovery and healing.
I want to thank the dedicated law enforcement agencies that have worked so tirelessly on this case, really round the clock, as well as our neighbors and others who participated in tipping, giving tips and helping with the investigation. We hope that this outcome tonight brings an increased sense of safety for our community, at Brown, and in the surrounding area.
This has been a period of great fear and anxiety for many people, and now perhaps some form of relief. Truly, this week has been devastating for our community in a number of ways, including the experiences that members of our community have had with being targeted by online rumors and accusations. And I hope that this development also means an end to this truly troubling activity.
So, we remain focused on the safety and security of our community and in support for the victims of this senseless violence.
Now we know the public and our own Brown community members will want to know more about the individual now identified by law enforcement as the suspect, in last weekend shooting. And we can confirm the following to the best of our knowledge, based on our review, in the very short time since law enforcement authorities made us aware of this development, and we provided this information to law enforcement as they build their case and wrap up the investigation.
[22:00:00]
So, Claudio Manuel Nueves Valente (ph) was enrolled at Brown, from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001. He was admitted to Brown's graduate school to study in the Masters of Science PhD program in physics, beginning on September 1st, 2000. And he took a leave of absence, effective April 2001, before formally withdrawing effective July 31st, 2003.
During his time at Brown, Nueves Valente (ph) was enrolled only in physics classes. The majority of physics classes at Brown have always been held within the Barus & Holley classrooms and labs.
Now, detailed records indicating where specific courses were held don't extend back to 2001. But we can say that physics classes typically require access to specialized equipment, including demonstration carts that are a fixed asset in some of Barus & Holley classrooms. So, I think it's safe to assume that this man, when he was a student, spent a great deal of time, in that building, for classes and other activities, as a PhD student in physics. He has no current active -- affiliation with the university or campus presence.
So again, we thank law enforcement and so many others for their extensive work on this case, day and night. And we look forward to a sense of restored safety for Brown, Providence, and the Rhode Island communities.
Thank you.
SMILEY: Thank you, President Paxson--
