BOSTON — Police reports released to the Herald after a public records fight reveal new details about the hours leading up to and following the murder of an MIT professor in his Brookline home last year.

Nuno Loureiro died on Dec. 16 after being shot by his former classmate Claudio Neves-Valente — the same man authorities have said is responsible for killing two students and wounding nine others at Brown University two days before.

Like the investigation into the Brown shooting, witness interviews and video from surveillance and dash cameras led investigators to the shooter and his rental car, according to the police reports.

The 97 pages of incident reports from the Brookline Police Department also include interviews with Loureiro’s family, who were home at the time of the shooting, and his MIT colleagues, who couldn’t understand why someone would want to hurt the professor.

The documents were released by the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office Friday, after the DA initially denied the request for the reports, “because they pertain[ed] to an active and ongoing criminal investigation.”

The Herald appealed the denial with the Secretary of State’s office and won.

‘Could’ve been a package delivery guy’

Loureiro and his family were having a peaceful night at their Brookline home when the doorbell rang around 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 15.

He was in the kitchen with his wife while two of his daughters were playing cards in the living room.

One of the daughters told police that when the doorbell rang, she “went to go look at who was at the door, when her dad came to handle it.”

“She came back into the apartment, at which point she heard the shots,” one of the reports said. “She ran back outside and saw the male suspect running away.”

Loureiro’s daughter said the shooter was wearing a yellow vest, dark clothing, and a hat. She said she saw him fleeing in a blue or black sedan down their street.

According to the report, the daughter told an officer “said she thought it could’ve been a package delivery guy as he was carrying [a] cardboard box that had a barcode on it,” although she noted the box might have been open on the side.

When police arrived, they tried administering first aid. Loureiro had been shot in the chest, abdomen, and thigh. Six shell casings total were found in the foyer of his building.

The professor was transported to a local hospital. He was pronounced dead just before 6 a.m. the next morning.

Surveillance footage

About two hours after the shooting, a neighbor came forward offering their surveillance camera footage.

Police saw “a gray or blue newer model Nissan Sedan,” slowing down and speeding up on the street in front of Loureiro’s home several times starting around 7 p.m. on the night of the shooting.

“Investigators believed that the operator was conducting pre-operational surveillance prior to committing the crime,” one of the reports said.

Similarly, Providence Police found evidence that the shooter had circled the area around Brown’s campus in the weeks and hours leading up to the shooting there.

According to the reports, from Dec. 16 to Dec. 18, police compiled and reviewed video from neighbors, local businesses, and even buses’ dash cams to puzzle together where the shooter had been and where he went after.

Footage showed the shooter on Commonwealth Ave., close to Loureiro’s Brookline home, walking around and eating lunch at 1:30 p.m. on the day of the shooting.

Then, after the crime, the car is picked up on camera moving down Brighton Ave. in Boston, with the headlights and taillights off, according to the reports. It’s also seen later that night, around 9 p.m. in Waltham.

Those details are also included in an affidavit filed by an FBI agent on Dec. 18 — the same day the shooter was found dead by police in a New Hampshire storage unit.

Neves-Valente likely killed himself two days before, some time Tuesday, the same day that Loureiro succumbed to his injuries.

U.S. Attorney Leah Foley and Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said that investigators were able to track the shooter using financial records and information on his car rental.

‘An extremely kind individual’

While some investigators were tracking down footage of the shooter and his rental car — which would eventually help connect the professor’s death to the shooting at Brown — other officers were talking to Loureiro’s colleagues and trying to unravel a motive for his death.

But according to the interviews documented by police, they came up with few answers.

Loureiro was a well respected scientist and academic, who at the time of his death, was running MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center as its directors.

One colleague told police, “she believed that everyone got along well with Loureiro and was not aware of any conflictual relations.”

Others described the professor to police as “very well liked… a good father and husband,” “warm and pleasant,” and “an extremely kind individual.”

“Loureiro typically did not fail students, often giving them satisfactory grades and helping them to meet their goals,” another person who worked with the professor told police in the report. “She described Loureiro as a good teacher… as professional, happy, good to work with, and someone who had a good sense of humor.”

At a recent round table, Foley said that the federal authorities will release more information about the crimes if and when it becomes available. She said that victims and their families deserve to know, although one of the biggest questions still looming may never be answered.

“Everyone will continue to always wonder, ‘What was the motive?'” Foley said. “Right now, we don’t know what that is, nor do we know if we ever will.”

------------

©2026 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at bostonherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.