The DOJ has released transcripts of videos that Brown University shooter Claudio Neves Valente allegedly made following the shooting. He later died by suicide.
The United States Department of Justice has released transcripts of a series of short videos that Brown University shooter Claudio Neves Valente allegedly made following the mass shooting, and the murder of MIT professor Nuno Loureiro. In chilling statements, the Portuguese national claimed he had no regrets about what he did.
Police found Valente’s body inside a New Hampshire storage facility days after the Brown University shooting and Loureiro murder. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on December 16. His body was found inside the Salem storage unit with a satchel and two firearms on December 18.
In an update on the investigation, the United States Attorney’s Office said about the newly-released transcripts, “In these videos, Neves Valente admitted that he had been planning the Brown University shooting for a long time. Although Neves Valente stated that Brown University was his intended target, based on initial review of the evidence collected, he did not provide a motive for targeting students at Brown University or the professor at MIT. Neves Valente showed no remorse during the recordings; on the contrary, he exposed his true nature when he blamed innocent, unarmed children for their deaths at his hand and grumbled about a self-inflicted injury he suffered when he shot the MIT professor at close range. Our investigation into the motives behind Neves Valente’s heinous acts will continue.”
What do the transcripts reveal?
In the transcripts, which were translated from Portuguese, Valente said, “To say that I was extraordinarily satisfied, no, but I also don’t regret what I did.”
Valente said he had been planning the shooting for a long time, and also expressed surprise at the investigation following the incident, according to WCVB.
“I honestly never thought it would take them so long to find me,” Valente allegedly said in one of the videos.
In one video, Valente said he is not not mentally ill, adding that he did not commit the crimes for fame and that he has “absolutely no patience” for manifestos or leaving a legacy. He also said that he had no hate for America, but had no love for it either.
Valente addressed rumors that he yelled “Allahu Akbar” during the Brown University shooting. He said, “It seems like someone over there said that I was saying that I was… Allah Akbar [PH] or some [expletive] like that. I do not remember having said anything. If I did say something, it must have been some kind of an–an exclamation, uhm, because I thought that one… I–I never wanted to do it in an auditorium. I wanted to do it in a regular room.”
Valente, however, did not provide a motive for his crimes, federal authorities said.
Brown University releases statement
Valente gunned down sophomore Ella Cook and freshman Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov during his deadly rampage at Brown University’s Providence campus in Rhode Island on December 13. He wounded nine other people
Brown University also released a statement after the transcripts were released. “We recognize that reading the transcripts released today of videos made by the suspect identified by the government is likely to intensify feelings of anxiety, stress and concern for many Brown community members. Less than a month after an act of unimaginable, senseless violence took the lives of two students and injured nine others, the gravity of this tragedy continues to weigh heavily on the full Brown University community and the city we call home. We continue to mourn the loss of our two students, Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, and to pray for the full recovery of our nine students who were injured,” it said.
A Brown spokesperson said the campus has now expanded security enhancements to ensure that such an attack “never happens again.”
