Brown shooting suspect’s car spotted near MIT professor’s home in bombshell link between school slayings as manhunt intensifies
The suspected gunman who opened fire at Brown University over the weekend apparently rented a vehicle that was later found near the scene of a murdered MIT professor.
The rented vehicle is the same make and model as a car identified in connection with the shooting death of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Nuno Loureiro, CBS News reports.
Investigators have said they are exploring whether the two school shootings are linked.
Cops are now said to have a warrant out for a suspect’s arrest as they search for him in Salem, New Hampshire – 85 miles away from Brown University, where two students were killed last week, according to Boston25.
An unidentified gunman opened fire on the Brown campus in Providence, Rhode Island on Saturday, and investigators have so far failed to track the attacker down.
But authorities have now identified the shadowy figure, whose face they have been attempting to find with the help of grainy surveillance footage.
A name for the person of interest has not yet been released to the public, and no one is in custody.
Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, of Virginia, and Ella Cook, of Alabama, were fatally gunned down during the mass shooting at Brown on Saturday.
They were in a study session held at the Ivy League’s School of Engineering Barus and Holley Building when a gunman burst in shortly after 4pm and opened fire.
The gunman fired 40 rounds, killing two students and wounding 12 more.
The manhunt for the Brown University shooter has moved to New Hampshire, 85 miles away from the Rhode Islandcampus where two students were killed last week
The Brown University shooting which killed two students and the assassination of an MIT professor two days later may be connected, police have said. (Pictured: Victim Ella Cook)
Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov (pictured left), the second Brown University victim killed on Saturday, has been remembered by his roommate as an aspiring neurosurgeon and ‘ball of joy’
Two days later, an unknown gunman also fatally shot Loureiro inside his Boston home, nearly 50 miles away.
FBI agent Ted Docks said Tuesday ‘there seems to be no connection’ between the two shootings, but investigators told WPRI Thursday that there may be a link.
The outlet did not give further information, but said it marks ‘a new break in the case’ which has baffled investigators for days.
Anonymous law enforcement sources told NBC10 that investigators made the connection through an overdue rental car linked to both shootings.
Two days after the Brown shooting, at around 8.30pm Monday evening, married father-of-three Loureiro was shot dead in his home in Brookline, Boston.
Loureiro’s neighbor and friend, Louise Cohen, said she discovered his body after hearing shots disturb the peace of their beautiful area on Gibbs Street.
Cohen said she was lighting a menorah candle when she heard gunshots fired. She rushed to the hallway of their building and found Loureiro lying on his back.
The professor’s heartbroken wife was also in the entry along with another neighbor, and they scrambled to dial 911. Loureiro was taken to hospital but died the next day.
Loureiro’s neighbors remembered him as a kind-hearted, ‘wonderful man’, while students flocked to the candle-lit vigil in his memory.
MIT paid tribute to him as, ‘a lauded theoretical physicist and fusion scientist’ who became the director of the college’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center in 2024, an institution with more than 250 full-time researchers.
Married father-of-three Nuno F.G. Loureiro (pictured), 47, was gunned down at his home in a leafy Boston suburb at 8.30pm by an unknown shooter who is still on the loose
Loureiro’s neighbors remembered him as a kind-hearted, ‘wonderful man’, while students flocked to the candle-lit vigil in his memory, as shown in the photograph above
Loureiro specialized in nuclear science, engineering and physics. He leaves behind ‘many devoted students, friends, and colleagues’, according to his MIT obituary.
His academic career started at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal, where he gained a physics degree.
Loureiro obtained a doctorate in physics from Imperial College London in 2005, before starting post-doctoral work at Princeton later that year.
He also worked at the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s Culham Centre for Fusion Energy between 2007 and 2009.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth acknowledged that the beloved professor died in the wake of the Brown University shooting just two days before.
‘This shocking loss for our community comes in a period of disturbing violence in many other places,’ she said in a statement.
‘It’s entirely natural to feel the need for comfort and support.
‘If you or anyone you know would like counsel or just a listening ear, I encourage you to make use of our many campus resources.
‘In time, the many communities Nuno belonged to will create opportunities to mourn his loss and celebrate his life.’
The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office told the Daily Mail no arrests have been made.
‘This is an active and ongoing homicide investigation,’ they said in a statement. ‘No further information is being released at this time.’
This is a breaking news story with updates to follow.
