Suspected Brown University gunman identified as investigators explore connection to MIT slaying: sources

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Investigators in New England have identified the suspected Brown University shooter and are looking into whether there is a link to the murder of an award-winning nuclear scientist 50 miles away at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, sources tell Fox News.

He remains at large.

Earlier this week, FBI Boston’s special agent in charge Ted Docks told reporters that investigators were sharing intelligence regarding both cases but had not come up with a clear tie.

Unverified reports in both Providence, Rhode Island, and Brookline, Massachusetts, have described Nissan Sentras at the scene, although they were described as having license plates from different states.

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On Thursday, the regional CBS affiliate WPRI-TV reported that senior law enforcement sources said they have discovered evidence of a connection. It’s unclear what that evidence is.

A masked gunman barged into a lecture hall at Brown University in Providence around 4 p.m. Saturday and killed two students, injuring nine more. Authorities said they recovered 9mm bullet casings from the scene.

A person of interest was seen Saturday a few minutes later on surveillance video in the neighborhood east of Brown’s campus.

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Then around 8:30 p.m. Monday, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F. Gomes Loureiro, 47, was discovered with multiple gunshot wounds in his apartment in Brookline, a short drive from campus. He was pronounced dead at a hospital the following morning.

Loureiro was a renowned nuclear physicist, director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and a recipient of a presidential award honoring his research from the White House earlier this year.

Authorities have not described what kind of weapon was used to kill Loureiro.

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The shooting left two students dead, identified as Ella Cook of Alabama and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov of Virginia, and nine injured. Six of the survivors remained hospitalized as of Thursday afternoon. One is in critical but stable condition, the others were stable.

Fox News’ Sandy Ibrahim contributed to this report.