Lives of the Brown suspect and his former classmate diverged, then collided

Two Portuguese peers who studied engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico later lived in the United States, but followed divergent careers. Nuno Loureiro became a physics professor at MIT and researched plasmas; Claudio Neves Valente abandoned a scientific career and lived in Miami. On Dec. 13, Valente shot and killed Loureiro at his home near Boston. The attack followed a rampage that began 48 hours earlier at Brown University, where Valente entered a lecture hall and killed two undergraduate economics students. Investigators have not released a motive. Both men had ties to Instituto Superior Técnico and Brown, where Valente had been a high-achieving student.

"The two young men were peers, brilliant aspiring scientists working toward a degree at Portugal's most prestigious engineering school, a white building at the top of a grassy plaza in Lisbon. A quarter-century later, both were in the United States, but their paths had diverged radically. Nuno Loureiro was a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a beloved mentor who researched the behavior of plasmas."

"For Valente, it was the second act in a deadly rampage that began at Brown University 48 hours earlier when he burst into a lecture hall and opened fire, authorities said, killing two undergraduates in an economics session. Investigators have not yet revealed a motive for the attacks. But both have links to Valente's long-ago days as a student, first at the Instituto Superior Técnico and then at Brown."

Read at The Washington Post