By Federal, state, and local authorities are investigating a possible connection between the mass shooting at Brown University on December 13 and the fatal shooting of an MIT professor two days later, a development that has intensified scrutiny of two crimes that have rattled New England’s academic community.
Senior law enforcement sources told Target 12 Investigators that newly uncovered evidence suggests the incidents may be linked. The assessment marks a shift from earlier public statements. On Tuesday, FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks said there “seems to be no connection” between the attacks. Officials have scheduled a new briefing for Thursday afternoon.
The first attack unfolded Saturday around 4 p.m. when an unidentified gunman entered Brown University’s Barus & Holley engineering building in Providence. Surveillance footage shows a suspect wearing a dark jacket, mask, and hat lingering on campus for hours before opening fire inside a classroom where students were preparing for an economics exam.
Two students were killed—Ella Cook, 19, a sophomore from Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, a freshman from Virginia. Nine others were wounded. Cook, vice president of Brown’s College Republicans chapter, was remembered by friends as outspoken and principled on a predominantly liberal campus. Public figures, including Vice President JD Vance and Alabama senators, offered tributes. Some conservative commentators have suggested Cook may have been targeted for her political beliefs, though investigators say there is no confirmed evidence of a political motive.
This beautiful young girl was one of the murdered students at Brown University. It takes special courage to lead an organization of conservatives on a left wing campus, and I am very sorry our country has lost one of its bright young stars.
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord. https://t.co/icGrwJAAlX
— JD Vance (@JDVance) December 15, 2025
Umurzokov, an Uzbek-American aspiring neurosurgeon inspired by a childhood brain surgery, was described by family as kind, inclusive, and exceptionally gifted.
On Monday evening, roughly 50 miles north in Brookline, Massachusetts, MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, was shot multiple times inside the entryway of his Gibbs Street home. He died the following morning at a hospital. Loureiro, a Portuguese-born physicist who joined MIT in 2016, directed the Plasma Science and Fusion Center and was widely respected for his work on fusion energy and clean technology. He recently received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel has begun investigating if Loureiro was murdered by Iran.
Israeli officials are examining intelligence from recent days that suggests an Iranian connection to the murder of Prof. Nuno Loureiro, a senior nuclear scientist at MIT, who was shot dead in his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, on Monday evening.
This is an assessment that has not yet been verified and is not supported at this stage by official findings from the investigative authorities in the United States.
Prof. Loureiro, who had previously spoken out in favor of Israel, was a 47-year-old Portuguese-born world-renowned plasma and nuclear fusion researcher.
No suspects have been identified or arrested in either case, and both shooters remain at large. Investigators are urging anyone with information to contact law enforcement.
Both campuses continue to mourn amid vigils, memorials, and heightened security, as the potential link between the shootings deepens concerns about safety at colleges and universities during a violent year.
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