Law enforcement officials in Providence, Rhode Island, investigating last weekend's deadly shooting at Brown University have identified a suspect, multiple media outlets reported Thursday.
Sources close to the investigation told Newsmax on Thursday that police have identified the suspect as a Portuguese national and that a warrant was issued for his arrest. The sources said the suspect appears to be linked to the fatal shooting Monday of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor in Brookline, Massachusetts. The professor, Nuno Loureiro, a nuclear scientist from Portugal, was pronounced dead Tuesday morning.
WFXT-TV in Boston reported that law enforcement activity related to the manhunt has taken place in Massachusetts and Salem, New Hampshire. The FBI is involved in the search, which is based in or near the Boston area. A post on X said several police helicopters were spotted near State Route 24 in Brockton, Massachusetts.
Investigators learned of the suspect's identity late Wednesday night, with some reports describing him as a man in his 40s. Authorities have been searching for him since. The suspect's name has not been released.
Investigators are searching for a car the suspect is believed to have rented, an official told The New York Times. Authorities believe the rented vehicle is the same make and model as a car identified in connection with the shooting of Loureiro, a member of MIT's departments of nuclear science and engineering and physics, as well as the director of the school's Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
An alert issued to police in the Boston area directed officers to look for the car and warned that anyone inside could be armed, dangerous, and wanted in connection with the Brookline homicide. The alert did not mention the shooting at Brown.
The attack at Brown on Dec. 13 left two people dead and nine others injured. It triggered hours of chaos across the campus and surrounding neighborhoods as hundreds of officers searched for the shooter and urged students and staff to shelter in place.
Investigators have released a video timeline showing a person of interest's movements near the scene of the shooting.
Authorities are also urging residents who live in a wide swath of the city to double-check their cameras for any trace of clues, no matter how small.
On Wednesday, investigators released an "areas of focus" map showing three zones. They said the map charts the movements of the person of interest immediately before and after the shooting.
Police also said Thursday that a man captured on camera "in proximity" to the suspect was interviewed by law enforcement, WPRI-TV in Providence reported. Authorities do not believe the man was involved in the attack. He told investigators he confronted the suspected gunman outside Brown before the shooting, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the investigation said.
Officials on Wednesday said that of the nine people injured, one remains in critical condition. Five people previously listed in critical but stable condition remain hospitalized and are making progress in their recovery. Three others who were hospitalized have returned home to be with their families, officials said.
The shooter killed Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from Alabama who was active in her church and served as vice president of the Brown College Republicans, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman from Virginia whose family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan and who hoped to attend medical school.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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