Investigators in New England have identified a suspect in the Dec. 13 mass shooting at Brown University and are examining a possible connection to the targeted killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor two days later, FOX News reported Dec. 18, citing law enforcement officials.
Authorities have obtained an arrest warrant for the suspect, who remains at large, the outlet reported. The manhunt may have crossed state lines into Salem, New Hampshire, according to FOX-affiliate Boston 25, which cited its own law enforcement sources.
As CatholicVote previously reported, a masked gunman opened fire inside a Brown University classroom around 4 p.m. on Dec. 13 while students gathered for a final exam review session. The attacker killed two students and wounded nine other individuals before fleeing the scene.
Investigators are now examining whether the Brown shooting suspect is connected to the fatal shooting of MIT professor Nuno F. Gomes Loureiro. Police found Loureiro, 47, with multiple gunshot wounds in his apartment near the MIT campus around 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 15, FOX News reported. He was pronounced dead at the hospital the next morning.
NBC News reported that three senior law enforcement officials said investigators are examining whether the same rental vehicle appeared near Brown University around the time of the Dec. 13 shooting and near Loureiro’s home around the time of the Dec. 15 killing.
According to FOX, Loureiro was a renowned nuclear physicist, served as director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, and received a presidential award earlier this year recognizing his research.
Authorities identified the victims of the Brown University shooting as Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov. As CatholicVote previously reported, Cook was a sophomore and vice president of the Brown University College Republicans. Umurzokov was an 18-year-old biochemistry and neuroscience major whose family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan when he was a young boy.
Dominican Father Justin Bolger, Brown University’s Catholic chaplain, told the National Catholic Register that the campus community has been reeling from the violence.
“She loved Jesus Christ. She was a sweet and strong soul,” Fr. Bolger said of Cook, adding that although Cook was Episcopal, she found friendship within the Catholic community and occasionally attended Mass and events at the campus Catholic center.
“Most of all, she was a beautiful soul who radiated Christ. We have offered Masses for her repose and for Mukhammad, the other deceased,” Fr. Bolger told the outlet. “We are praying especially for Ella’s family and their consolation.”
Six of the nine injured victims remain in stable condition, FOX reported, while the remaining three have been discharged. Medical officials have also stabilized one patient previously listed in critical condition.
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