The Barus & Holley engineering building remains closed as the manhunt continues for the gunman, following a shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, US. December 17, 2025. © REUTERS/Taylor Coester
(Providence, RI) – As authorities have identified as potential person of interest in the Brown University shooting, ABC News has reported a potential link between that violence — and the shooting death of an MIT professor.
Nuno Loureiro, an MIT professor who is known to be conservative and pro-Israel, was shot dead at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts on Tuesday. That came just two days after the shooting at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island. The 49-mile drive can typically be completed in about an hour’s time, so the general proximity of both crime scenes is notable.
Earlier in the week, 77 WABC speculated about the potential link, given there are other similarities of note. Loureiro, a Portuguese plasma physicist, was outspoken about his pro-Israel and right-leaning political views. At Brown University, one of the two students shot dead was Ella Cook, a 19-year-old from Alabama — who served as Vice President of the school’s College Republicans chapter. And it’s been reported the shooter seemed to target his or her victims inside the engineering school classroom where the Brown University shooting unfolded.
Over the past 24-hours the link between both shootings became more apparent, according to sources that spoke to ABC News. Detectives working both cases compared notes and that led them to the potential link.
