Who is ‘John’? Claudio Neves Valente confronted by Redditor who helped crack Brown University shooting case

Claudio Neves Valente was identified as the Brown University shooting suspect, and as per the Rhode Island AG a Reddit post helped crack the case.

Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, has been identified as the Brown University shooting suspect. He has also been linked to the fatal shooting of MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, in Brookline. Valente died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound as authorities surrounded the Salem storage facility, they'd tracked him down to.

Investigators look at a grey Nissan car at a storage facility where the Brown University shooter, identified by authorities as Claudio Neves Valente, took his own life, in Salem, New Hampshire.(REUTERS)

While this brings the manhunt to a close after around six days, it is actually a Reddit post and a Redditor who helped the investigators crack open the case.

Not only did the person draw attention to the possible suspect's car but also reached out to detectives to detail his interactions with the suspect, all of which helped in the course of the investigation.

The details of how this person helped the case has been listed in the affidavit shared by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha. Their Reddit handle has been redacted in the document and the person has been identified as ‘John’.

Who is 'John'?

Given that the authorities are keeping details about John under wraps, not much is known about him. However, the affidavit notes that John met the suspect first ‘inside a bathroom on the ground floor of the Barus Holley building immediately to the right of an entrance of the building on December 13, 2025 at approximately 13:45-14:00.’ That means, John was at the Brown University campus the day the shooting took place.

John reportedly made eye contact with the suspect several times, and stood in close proximity to him. “The initial encounter involved John locking eyes with the Suspect,” the document further details.

The person also detailed how he'd stayed on at the block where he knew the suspect's car to be, and the suspect would keep looping back to the vehicle, only to switch directions each time he saw John. He described it as ‘a game of cat and mouse’ between himself and the suspect.

When John did confront him, he was reportedly standing about two feet away from the suspect, the affidavit further notes.

The Redditor is reportedly a homeless person who sleeps in the basement of the Barus and Holley building, as per Fox News reporter Brooke Taylor.

How did ‘John’ help in cracking the case?

John gave investigators key details about the suspect, from his interaction. He noted that the person's cadence was ‘Hispanic’ and believed the suspect’s eyes to be brown and face to be chubby, as per the affidavit. He described the person's outfit on the day of the shooting as well.

Besides, he helped trace some of the suspect's movements, and helped with the kind of car the suspect had. John's Reddit post was the first thing that helped authorities begin to close in on Valente.

“I'm being dead serious. The police need to look into a grey Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental. That was the car he was driving. It was parked in front of the little shack behind the Rhode Island Historical Society on the Cooke St side. I know because he used his key fob to open the car, approached it and then something prompted him to back away. When he backed away he relocked the car. I found that odd so when he circled the block I approached the car that is when I saw the Florida plates. He was parked in the section between the gate of the RIHS and the corner of Cooke and George St.,” John had written on the social media platform. His username has been redacted in the official document.

This helped authorities review the surveillance videos further. They located a grey/blue Nissan sedan, as John had described, and noted it ‘appeared consistent with the make and model of a Nissan Sentra sedan.’

‘Blew this case right open’, says AG Neronha

AG Neronha lauded the efforts of the Redditor, saying “That person led us to the car, which led us to the name, which led us to the photographs of that individual renting the car, which matched the clothing of our shooter here in Providence, that matched the satchel.”

“He blew this case right open. He blew it open,” the AG added.