By Svea Herbst-Bayliss, CJ Gunther, Nate Raymond and Brad Brooks
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island/SALEM, New Hampshire, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Police have identified a suspect in last weekend’s deadly mass shooting at Brown University and are investigating a possible link to the murder of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor two days later near Boston, a person familiar with the matter said.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the matter, did not provide more details on the identification of the suspect or why investigators think the two cases may be linked.
On Thursday night, officers in SWAT gear and law enforcement vehicles, including some police cars from Providence and the Rhode Island State Police, were seen surrounding a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, about 20 miles (30 km) north of downtown Boston. The source familiar with the probe said the police activity in Salem was related to the investigation.
The manhunt since Saturday’s shooting inside a classroom building at Brown University has left students and residents of Providence, Rhode Island, “restless and eager” for an arrest, said Mayor Brett Smiley. Two students were killed and at least eight were wounded.
Two days later, MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, 47, was fatally shot in his home in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts, some 50 miles (80 km) north of Brown’s campus.
Earlier this week, an FBI official said authorities did not believe there was a link between Saturday’s shooting at Brown and the MIT professor’s murder. Loureiro was a member of the departments of nuclear science and engineering and physics as well as MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
SEEKING THE PUBLIC’S HELP
Investigators in Providence said the suspect in the Brown University shooting escaped on foot into nearby streets, prompting a search that relied heavily on residential security footage because of a lack of surveillance cameras in the classroom building and surrounding area.
Police released images and video of a masked man believed to be the shooter, based on survivor accounts, and have repeatedly asked for the public’s help in identifying him. The footage showed the suspect walking in a nearby neighborhood both before and immediately after the attack, including moments when police vehicles arrived with flashing lights.
“He could be anywhere,” Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said on Wednesday, adding that authorities did not initially know the suspect’s identity or motive.
Police also circulated photos of another unidentified man seen near the area, saying they wanted to speak with him as a potential witness who may have relevant information.
Authorities initially announced a person was in custody a day after the shooting, but later released that individual after determining he was not involved.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond and Brad Brooks; Additional reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Providence and CJ Gunther in Salem; Editing by Donna Bryson, David Gregorio and William Mallard)
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