Brown University shooting suspect planned attack for a long time, offering no motive in video confession, officials say

By Danya Gainor, CNN

(CNN) — The suspect in last month’s mass shooting at Brown University and subsequent killing of an MIT professor admitted to the attacks in a series of short videos authorities recovered from an electronic device, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said Tuesday.

The office released transcripts of the four videos taken after the deadly December shootings by suspect Claudio Neves Valente, translated from Portuguese to English. Valente did not offer a motive – or apologies – for the attacks in the videos.

Two students — Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov — died in the attack at Brown, while Nuno F.G. Loureiro, an MIT professor, was fatally shot at his home near Boston.

The electronic device with the videos was found in the New Hampshire storage facility, where authorities located Valente’s body after he died by suicide, capping days of terror that had followed the violence.

During the more than 11 minutes Valente spoke in the videos, he offered vague misgivings about unnamed people, addressed how he was portrayed in the media in the days after the shooting and detailed what he saw in the Brown auditorium that he attacked.

Motive remains unclear

In one video, Valente said he didn’t care about being famous or leaving a legacy in the wake of the shooting, and “even though I would have a lot to say and write,” he lacked the patience for a manifesto.

Valente ambiguously offered that the “objective” was to leave “on my own terms,” but not to “be the one who ended up suffering the most from all of this.” It’s not clear in the transcript where he wanted to leave or from what he was suffering.

Though the videos did not reveal a motive, the federal investigation into Valente’s motivations will continue, the US attorney’s office said.

Valente said he had been planning the attack for more than six semesters and had “plenty of opportunities” to carry out the shooting earlier, but “always chickened out.”

Valente said he had no regret in the attacks, only that they resulted in a serious eye injury after he was struck by a shell round.

“I don’t give a damn about how you judge me or what you think of me,” Valente said in one video.

Suspect thought classroom was empty as students hid

Valente said he “never” wanted to conduct the shooting at Brown University in an auditorium.

“I wanted to do it in a regular room,” he said. “So, it all went wrong.”

When he walked into the auditorium, Valente said he only saw one man in the classroom and thought the others had left through the emergency exit after the shooting started.

He didn’t realize multiple students were hiding in the classroom when he believed it to be empty and left, Valente said.

The suspect said the people who hid “were kind of stupid” for not using the emergency exit.

Valente addressed investigation and escape

Over multiple videos, Valente mentioned having been confronted following the shooting and his surprise over how long it was taking authorities to find him.

A man had encountered Valente in the building where the shooting took place, noting the suspect’s clothing was inadequate for the cold weather, CNN previously reported. He followed Valente to his car, asking him why he kept circling the block.

Valente spoke about the encounter in the videos, saying the man who confronted him knew his license plate number, and he “never thought it would take them so long to find me.”

Valente said he hoped to have a few hours isolated in the storage facility before authorities found him.

“Even though the stupid car is outside, and obviously there is a record of my entry, and there are cameras and sh*t,” he said. “The longer I stay here the better.”

Valente addressed rumors that he had shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the shooting. He said he didn’t remember shouting anything, and if he did, “it must have been some kind of an exclamation.”

He also said he read that President Donald Trump called him an “animal” while investigators were searching for Valente.

“I am an animal and he is also,” Valente said.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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