A homeless man is expected to collect the FBI’s $50,000 reward for helping to catch Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, the gunman who killed two students at Brown University before murdering an MIT professor.
A former Brown University student who is now homeless is being credited with helping law enforcement identify the suspect.
Valente is accused of murdering two students and wounding several others in a mass shooting on campus last weekend.
He is later believed to have assassinated MIT Professor Nuno F. G. Loureiro in his Massachusetts home.
Authorities believe Loureiro was the original target of the Brown shooting.
The homeless man, known publicly only as John, contacted police after recognizing the individual in surveillance images released by authorities.
Hours before the shooting, John had posted on Reddit describing a suspicious man he encountered inside a university bathroom.
The individual was later identified as Portuguese national Claudio Manuel Neves Valente.
According to John, he confronted Valente after noticing him walking erratically around campus.
He recalled asking the suspect, “Why are you circling the block?”
Valente allegedly responded by questioning why John was “harassing” him before fleeing.
After images of the shooter were released by police, John uploaded another post stating that he had seen the same man unlock a grey Nissan with Florida plates near Brown’s campus.
He also contacted an anonymous police tip line and eventually identified himself to Providence authorities after investigators released images of him as a person of interest due to his proximity to the suspect while following him.
Police later traced the Nissan’s license plate and reviewed surveillance video that led them to a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire.
There, officers discovered Valente dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The FBI announced Monday a $50,000 reward “for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the individual responsible for the Brown University mass shooting.”
That reward now appears likely to go to the Providence man whose tip played a critical role in tracking down the suspect.
Authorities have not yet commented publicly on whether John will be formally awarded the funds.
READ MORE – Gunman Behind MIT and Brown University Killings Found Dead in Storage Unit
Our comment section is restricted to members of the Slay News community only.
To join, create a free account HERE.
If you are already a member, log in HERE.