A homeless man known only as “John” has been credited with providing crucial information that led to the identification of the suspect in the Brown University shooting, and federal officials say he is now entitled to the $50,000 reward offered in the case.
Investigators say John’s contribution began with a post he made on Reddit, where he shared details about a suspicious interaction he had with a man who was later identified as the suspect, 48‑year‑old Claudio Neves Valente. At a press conference Thursday, authorities confirmed that information originally posted by John was the key clue that helped law enforcement track down the suspect.
The Brown University shooting, followed shortly afterward by the deadly killing of an MIT professor in Cambridge, Massachusetts, had authorities scrambling for answers as the nation reeled from back‑to‑back tragedies. Two students at Brown were killed in the first attack, and the second struck the academic community again when an MIT professor was found shot to death in his home.
John’s Reddit tip helped break the case open. In his original post, he described seeing a gray Nissan with Florida license plates and shared an odd interaction with the man later identified as Valente. John said the man used a key fob to unlock the car, then backed away, relocked it, and circled the block—an unusual pattern that caught John’s attention.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha praised John’s contribution, saying, “He blew this case right open.” The information led investigators to additional video and ultimately to Valente, who was found dead from a self‑inflicted gunshot wound in a storage facility nearly 24 hours after the initial Reddit tip.
John had first come to police attention when they released his image seeking anyone with information. After meeting with investigators and providing a detailed account of his “cat and mouse” encounter with the suspect inside the Brown engineering building hours before the shooting, John offered key context that authorities say was indispensable to the investigation.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks said John should be eligible for the hefty reward, adding, “It would be logical to think that, absolutely, that individual would be entitled to that.”
