Campus Alert Archive
Brown

Finals Week Massacre: Former Graduate Student Opens Fire in Barus and Holley, Killing Two

RIactive shooteremergency notificationhigh confidence
Confirmed Threat

On December 13, 2025, during finals week, a former Brown University physics PhD student opened fire in the Barus and Holley Building, shooting 11 people — killing two students and wounding nine others — in first-floor Room 166, where a 21-year-old teaching assistant was leading an optional economics final-exam review session. Brown issued an active shooter alert at 4:22 PM EST, and the campus was placed on full lockdown. The gunman fled and was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Salem, New Hampshire on December 18, 2025, after a five-day manhunt.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
2
Injured
9
Institution
Brown University
Private R1 · RI
~11,000 studentsBrownAlert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 2 verified verbatim

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Verified verbatimBrown Daily Herald and ASIS Security Management Magazine quoting the BrownAlert verbatim123 chars
There's an active shooter near Barus & Holley Engineering. Lock doors, silence phones and stay hidden until further notice.
Verbatim text from the BrownAlert as quoted directly by the Brown Daily Herald and ASIS Security Management Magazine
The active shooter alert was issued at 4:22 PM EST on December 13, 2025, the second day of final examinations
The alert placed the entire Ivy League campus on full lockdown with shelter-in-place orders
ALL CLEARSMS+13h 20m
Verified verbatimBrown University official X account (@BrownUniversity) post at 5:42 AM EST on December 14, 2025295 chars
BrownUAlert: Providence police have advised the University that the shelter in place order has ended for the entire Brown campus. However, police activity continues in areas that are still considered an active crime scene. Be advised that access to these areas of campus continues to be limited.
Verbatim text from the Brown University official X account post at 5:42 AM EST on Sunday, December 14, 2025, nearly 13 hours after the shooting began
The alert specifies that access within the police perimeter -- including Minden Hall and nearby apartment buildings -- remained limited even after the shelter-in-place ended
The suspect, Cláudio Manuel Neves Valente, had already fled the scene and was not yet in custody when the shelter-in-place was lifted
Context

Background

On the afternoon of December 13, 2025, shortly after 4 PM EST during finals week, a gunman entered the Barus and Holley Building — home to Brown's School of Engineering and physics department in Providence, Rhode Island — and opened fire in the 186-seat first-floor Room 166, where a 21-year-old teaching assistant was running an optional economics final-exam review session. Eleven people were shot: two students killed and nine wounded. Brown issued an active shooter alert at 4:22 PM EST, and the entire campus was placed on full lockdown with shelter-in-place orders. The shooter, identified as Cláudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, a Portuguese national who had enrolled in Brown's physics PhD program in 2000 and withdrawn in 2003, fled the scene before police arrived. Two days later, on December 15, he fatally shot MIT physics professor Nuno Loureiro — a former classmate — at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Valente was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire on December 18, 2025; an autopsy determined he had been dead since around December 16. Victims of the shooting filed a lawsuit against the university, alleging that Brown failed to act on prior warnings about the suspect, including reports from a custodian who had seen Valente canvassing the building in the days before the attack. The U.S. Department of Education announced a Clery Act compliance review of Brown University in the aftermath.
Analysis

Key Findings

A custodian had reported the suspect as suspicious prior to the shooting, raising questions about whether the attack could have been prevented
The U.S. Department of Education opened a Clery Act compliance review of Brown University following the shooting
The five-day manhunt ended December 18, 2025 when the suspect was found dead by suicide inside a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire; the same gunman also killed MIT physics professor Nuno Loureiro in Brookline, MA on December 15
Outcome
Two students, Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov '29 and Ella Cook '28, were killed and nine others wounded — 11 people shot in all. The shooter, Cláudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, a Portuguese national and former Brown physics PhD student (enrolled 2000, withdrew 2003), fled the scene; two days later, on December 15, he fatally shot MIT physics professor Nuno Loureiro, a former classmate, in Brookline, MA. Valente was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a storage unit in Salem, NH on December 18, 2025 (an autopsy determined he had been dead since around December 16). The U.S. Department of Education announced a Clery Act compliance review of Brown University.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Social
    BrownUniversity X post — BrownUAlert all-clear at 5:42 AM EST December 14, 2025
    x.com
  2. Source
    2025 Brown University shooting (Wikipedia)
    en.wikipedia.org
  3. News
    Brown University students describe uncertainty and fear in lockdown (NBC News)
    nbcnews.com
  4. News
    2 dead, 9 wounded in Brown University shooting (NBC News live blog)
    nbcnews.com
  5. News
    3 Brown campus shooting victims sue university (WPRI)
    wpri.com
  6. Official
    U.S. Department of Education Announces Review of Brown University for Potential Clery Act Violations
    ed.gov
  7. News
    Brown University shooting suspect found dead at storage facility in Salem (CNN live updates)
    cnn.com
Tags
active-shootermass-shootingrhode-islandivy-leaguefinals-weekmanhuntclery-reviewformer-studentprivate-university
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion