In the aftermath of the deadly Brown University shooting that shook Providence, Rhode Island, and the related killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, law enforcement’s use of automated license-plate recognition technology has become a flashpoint in a heated debate about surveillance, privacy and public safety. Authorities say controversial systems were central to identifying the suspect’s vehicle and tracing his movements, but civil liberties advocates warn about unchecked data access and broader uses of the technology.
How a Rental Car Became the Key to Identifying the Suspect
On Saturday afternoon, December 13, a man later identified as 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Manuel Neves Valente entered the Barus & Holley Engineering building at Brown University and opened fire during an economics study session. The attack left two students dead — Ella Cook, 19, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18 — and nine others wounded.
Unfortunately, the campus tragedy rapidly expanded into a regional crisis. Two days after the Brown shooting, MIT physics professor Nuno Loureiro, aged 47 and a noted researcher in nuclear science and plasma physics, was found shot dead at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Authorities later determined his death was linked to the same suspect.
As investigators sought to unravel a motive and track the suspect during a multi-day manhunt across New England, the rental car believed to be used in both shootings became a crucial lead…