PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Information from an informant who had a strange encounter with another man on a sidewalk near Brown University played a key role in police identifying the suspect they believe killed two students at the school and then shot and killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor two days later.
Known only as “John” in a Providence police affidavit, investigators describe the source as a key figure who provided law enforcement with details needed to determine who was behind the shooting of Brown as well as the killing of an MIT professor who was gunned down in his Brooklyn home on Monday.
Ever since a gunman fired more than 40 rounds of ammunition inside the Brown Engineering Building, anxiety and frustration have gripped residents of Providence, Rhode Island, as police appear no closer to identifying the man.
However, the case picked up steam on the sixth day of the investigation and ended with police announcing late Thursday that the suspected gunman had been found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The reason for this was the informant John.
“He solved this case,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said of the information the man provided that led to the discovery of the gunman nearly 24 hours later.
“When you crack it, you break it,” he said.
Before Saturday's attack, John had several meetings with 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, police said. When police posted images of a man of interest, now named Neves Valente, John began posting on the social media forum Reddit saying he recognized the man and suggested police should look into the “possibly rented” gray Nissan. Reddit users urged him to report this to the FBI, and John said he did so. Police affidavits say they learned of the tip on Dec. 16, three days after the shooting and a day after the tip line was created.
The police affidavit said that until that point, officials had not linked the vehicle to the possible shooter.
The detail allowed them to obtain more video of a Nissan Sentra sedan with Florida plates and allowed Providence police officers to tap into a network of more than 70 street cameras operated throughout the city by surveillance company Flock Safety.
The next day, police released new video showing Neves Valente running away from another man. The Reddit commenter did not respond to questions from The Associated Press last week but returned to the forum later Wednesday night to say he had just been questioned by Providence and state police investigators.
The affidavit says John provided investigators with additional important details: He met Neves Valente in the bathroom of an engineering building just hours before the attack, where John noted the suspect's clothing was “inappropriate and inappropriate for the weather.”
John also encountered Neves Valente outside, just a few blocks away, where John watched as Neves Valente “suddenly” turned away from the Nissan when he saw John. According to John, what followed was a “game of cat and mouse” in which the two faced each other and Neves Valente ran away.
At one point, John said, he yelled, “Your car is behind you, why are you circling the block?”
“The suspect responded, ‘I don’t know you from anyone,’ then the suspect repeatedly asked, ‘Why are you following me?’” the affidavit states.
John told police he eventually saw Neves Valente approach the Nissan sedan again and decided to leave.
“With all due respect, I've said everything I can say about this to the right people,” John wrote on Reddit on Wednesday night.
As of Thursday, it was unknown whether John would receive the $50,000 reward the FBI offered for information about the Brown shooting.
Ted Dox, special agent in charge of the FBI, told reporters that it was possible.
“It would be logical to assume that this person would certainly be eligible,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Matt O'Brien contributed to this report.
