Suspect in Brown University Shooting Found Dead in New Hampshire: 'We Got Him'

The suspect responsible for the mass shooting at Brown University that killed two people and wounded nine others was found dead from what authorities said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a storage facility in New Hampshire on Thursday, Dec. 18.

That individual was identified as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a former Brown University student from Portugal, according to FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks.

"We got him," Docks said at a press conference Thursday evening, adding that "even though the suspect was found dead tonight, our work is not done."

Authorities said there is still much to be learned about the motive for the attack, noting that the investigation is ongoing.

Brown University President Christina Paxson said at the press conference that Neves Valente attended the Ivy League school from 2000 to 2001 and was enrolled as a graduate student in the physics department.

"It is safe to assume that this man, when he was a student, spent a lot of time in that building," she said, referring to the Barus and Holley building where the shooting occurred.

Authorities allege Neves Valente entered the building at around 4 p.m. on the afternoon of Dec. 13. He then made his way to a lecture hall at the same moment 60 students were preparing to leave their study sessions.

He opened fire and within minutes, two people were dead and nine were wounded. The lone gunman could then be seen strolling away from the crime scene.

Authorities said that same man is also suspected of murdering a Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics professor on the evening of Monday, Dec. 15 in Brookline, Mass. The victim in that crime, Nuno F.G. Loureiro, was also born in Portugal.

“We are 100 percent confident that this is our target and that this case is closed from a perspective of pursuing people involved," Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said at the press conference.

At the same time, Neronha emphasized "there’s a lot of unknowns with respect to motive."

Neves Valente managed to avoid detection in the days since the shootings by switching out the license plates on his rental car, authorities said. It was that car which ultimately tied him to the two crime scenes, a source with knowledge of the investigation previously told PEOPLE.

Investigators said they got their big break in the case after releasing an image of a person who crossed paths with Neves Valente on Dec. 13 and expressing their desire to speak with that individual.

Neronha said that this person was able to identify the suspect's car and ultimately "blew this case right open." Investigators were able to determine that the same car was rented in Boston, then driven to Providence and later to Brookline over the past week.

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This comes hours after a source close to the investigation told PEOPLE that law enforcement officials had identified a person of interest in the mass shooting and were close to declaring that person a suspect.

Earlier this week, the FBI announced that it would be "offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the individual."

There was nothing to suggest investigators were any closer to making an arrest as the search entered its fifth day, but earlier Thursday afternoon sources with knowledge of the investigation told PEOPLE that a person of interest had been identified by authorities.

This development came after officials went door-to-door and asked residents whose homes were near the Brown campus on Providence's East Side if they had security recordings from the morning and afternoon of Saturday, Dec. 13.

Enough videos were obtained as a result of these efforts to then allow the FBI to put together a timeline of the movements the shooter made on and around the campus on the day of the attack.

A different individual was initially identified as a person of interest in the case and taken in for questioning on Sunday, Dec. 14, but he was released just a few hours later after investigators determined there was "no basis" to consider him a person of interest, PEOPLE previously reported.

A source told PEOPLE that as of Dec. 18, the six individuals who are still hospitalized are all in stable condition and the three others have been released.

The two victims killed at Brown University were identified as Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov.

The school cancelled all final exams in the wake of the attack and sent students home early for winter break.