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Providence, R.I. — Information from a tipster who had a strange encounter with another man on a sidewalk outside Brown University was key to police identifying the suspect they believe killed two students at the school and then two days later gunned down a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.
Known only as “John” in a Providence police affidavit, the source is being hailed by investigators as the key figure who gave law enforcement the details needed to determine who was behind the Brown shooting, as well as the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was shot in his Brookline home Monday.
Ever since a shooter unloaded more than 40 rounds inside a Brown engineering building, anxiety and frustration has plagued the Providence, Rhode Island, community as police appeared no closer to identifying the person.
Yet on the sixth day of the investigation, the case gathered steam, ending with police announcing late Thursday they had found the suspected gunman dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The tipster, John, was the reason.
“He blew this case right open,” said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha of the information provided by the individual that resulted in finding the gunman nearly 24 hours later.
“When you crack it, you crack it,” he said.
According to police, John had several encounters with 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente before Saturday’s attack. As police posted images of a person of interest — now identified as Neves Valente — John began posting on the social media forum Reddit that he recognized the person and theorized that police should look into “possibly a rental” gray Nissan. Reddit users urged him to tell the FBI, and John said he did.
As police reviewed surveillance video, they saw another man “in close proximity” to the person of interest, and they posted an image of him in hopes he would come forward. That man turned out to be John.
“We didn’t know they were the same person until John approached a Providence police officer and came into the Providence police station to give an interview. And once we had that interview, we were on the path very quickly to identifying our suspect,” Neronha said in an interview.
The police affidavit said they learned about the tip on Dec. 16, three days after the shooting and a day after the tip line was created.
Up until that point, the police affidavit says officials had not connected a vehicle to the possible shooter.
That detail led them to get more video of a Nissan Sentra sedan with Florida plates and enabled Providence police officers to tap into a network of more than 70 street cameras operated around the city by surveillance company Flock Safety.
The affidavit says John gave investigators additional critical details: He encountered Neves Valente in the bathroom of the engineering building just hours before the attack, where John noted the suspect’s clothing was “inappropriate and inadequate for the weather.”
During his police interview, John recognized photos of the suspect’s car and then what John thought was probably the suspect from photos of him at an Alamo car rental in November, according to the affaidavit.
John also bumped into Neves Valente outside, mere blocks from the building, where John watched Neves Valente “suddenly” turn around from the Nissan when he saw John. What ensued was then a “game of cat and mouse,” according to John’s testimony – where the two would encounter each other and Neves Valente would run away.
At one point, John says he yelled out “Your car is back there, why are you circling the block?”
“The Suspect responded, ‘I don’t know you from nobody,’ then Suspect repeatedly asked, ‘Why are you harassing me?'” according to the affidavit.
John told police he eventually saw Neves Valente approach the Nissan sedan once more and decided to walk away.
“Respectfully, I have said all I have to say on the matter to the right people,” John wrote on Reddit Wednesday night.
On Friday, the FBI would not reveal whether John will receive the $50,000 reward the bureau had offered for information about the Brown shooting.
“The FBI maintains longstanding policy not to confirm the identity of individuals who assist the FBI by providing tips or information,” the bureau said in a statement to CBS News. “Additionally, the FBI will not comment on whether reward money has been paid and to whom. The FBI takes this position for privacy protection, and to ensure the public’s continued cooperation and incentivization with any future assistance. Receiving tips from the public remains one of the FBI’s best tools in preventing, detecting, and deterring crime.”
On Thursday, Ted Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI, said it was possible when asked by reporters if John would receive the reward money.
“It would be logical to think that, absolutely, that individual would be entitled to that,” he said.
