How investigators zeroed in on the Brown University shooting suspect and linked him to the killing of an MIT professor

Five days after an extensive manhunt began, law enforcement closed in on the Brown University shooting suspect after the emergence of apparent ties between the attack Saturday at the Providence, Rhode Island, school and the killing two days later of an MIT professor at his Massachusetts home.

As investigators began looking into the Monday shooting at the professor’s home, the FBI initially said there was no known connection between that crime and the mass shooting at the Ivy League institution about 50 miles away. But a rental car may have provided investigators with a potential link – a breakthrough that led to a search inside a New Hampshire storage facility, where authorities said Thursday night the suspect was found dead.

“Tonight, our Providence neighbors can finally breathe a little easier,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said at a news conference late Thursday, where officials identified the suspect as 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, a former Brown University student and a Portuguese national with no criminal record in the US. Authorities believe he acted alone, Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar L. Perez Jr. said.

Nuno Loureiro, the MIT professor fatally shot at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, was also a Portuguese national, and FBI Special Agent Ted Docks said Thursday night authorities believe the two men attended school in Lisbon at the same time.

Another tip came from someone who reported seeing an individual at a rental car outlet who the tipster believed matched the person seen in footage released by police on Wednesday,

Investigators visited the rental car company and obtained surveillance video showing a person renting the car who appeared to match the person seen in the footage released by police, including his distinctive gait, the official said.