Brown University Faces Lawsuits Over December Campus Shooting Injuries

Three students who were injured during a shooting at Brown University on December 13 have filed lawsuits against the university, alleging that the school failed to provide adequate security and ignored warnings about the shooter prior to the incident. The lawsuits, filed last week in Rhode Island Superior Court, claim that Brown did not maintain reasonable security measures and that the plaintiffs suffered serious injuries as a result.

According to law enforcement, Claudio Neves Valente, 48, entered a study session in a Brown academic building and opened fire, killing two students—19-year-old Ella Cook and 18-year-old MukhammadAziz Umurzokov—and injuring nine others. Authorities said Neves Valente, a former Brown graduate student, was also responsible for the fatal shooting of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro two days later in Massachusetts. Neves Valente was found dead at a New Hampshire storage facility days after the shootings, with authorities stating he died by suicide on December 16.

The lawsuits allege that Brown's campus security had been alerted by a custodian that Neves Valente was seen "casing" the building, but that the school did not investigate the report. Following the shooting, Brown's president placed campus police on leave while the university reviewed its security policies, including the presence of security cameras and building access procedures.

A spokesperson for Brown University said the school is reviewing the complaints and declined to comment further, citing the privacy interests of the plaintiffs. The litigation remains ongoing.