Federal prosecutors release transcripts of the Brown and MIT shooter admitting to murders
(L) A picture of the Brown University and MIT shooter, Claudio Manuel Neves. (Photo Via: X) / (Background) A Salem Police Department cruiser drives past the storage facility where the suspect behind the mass shooting at Brown University was found dead, in Salem, New Hampshire, on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Bing Guan / AFP via Getty Images)
OAN Staff Cory Hawkins 6:01 PM – Tuesday, January 6, 2026
The man who fatally shot two Brown University students and subsequently an MIT professor admitted to the attacks in a series of short videos recovered from an electronic device, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts on Tuesday.
“Today, the Department of Justice is releasing the transcripts of these videos, which have been translated from Portuguese to English. 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,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced.
Transcripts of the four videos recorded directly following the December shootings by suspect Claudio Neves Valente, 48, were translated from Portuguese to English.
Valente did not offer a motive nor any sympathy for the attacks in the videos.
BREAKING: Prosecutors release transcript of videos made by deceased Brown University shooter pic.twitter.com/XM45gf5kWY
“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,” a DOJ spokesperson wrote in a press release.
A Department of Justice spokesperson stated that an electronic device containing several videos was located in the storage facility in New Hampshire where Valente was hiding and where he ultimately took his own life.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts also stated that the federal investigation into Valente’s motives remains ongoing.
According to prosecutors, in the videos, Valente stated that he did not care about becoming famous or leaving a legacy in the wake of the shootings. “Even though I would have a lot to say and write,” he added.
The 48-year-old further revealed that he had been planning the attacks for more than six semesters, noting that he had “plenty of opportunities” to carry them out but “always chickened out.”
“To say that I was extraordinarily satisfied, no, but I also don’t regret what I did.”
Valente was enrolled as a graduate student studying physics from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001, with no current affiliation with the university.
Additionally, authorities have not yet determined why that specific classroom at Brown was chosen or why the victims were targeted.
“There are still a lot of unknowns,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. “We don’t know why now, why Brown, why these students and why this classroom.”
In the recordings, Valente also expressed frustration with a self-inflicted injury during the MIT shooting, where he suffered a serious eye injury when a shell from his gun hit his eye.
Brown University posted a statement following the release of the transcripts:
“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.”
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