A good deal has been written about the tragic murder of Mountain Brook native Ella Cook, who was gunned down on Dec. 13 during a study/exam session at Brown University. Cook’s tremendous talents, and her steadfast faith and advocacy on behalf of others has been memorialized by her family, friends, parish, and our state leaders.
Rightly so. Cook represented the best and the brightest not only of Alabama, but of her generation. To be snuffed out so horribly by Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, the 48-year-old Portuguese national who is the suspected gunman in not only Cook’s murder, but the murder of MIT Professor Nuno Loureiro, only rubs salt in a wide-open wound.
That Neves Valente decided to snuff himself out at a storage facility in Salem, N.H., is a bitter pill. Even more bitter is the abject failure of Brown University. Instead of protecting Cook and others on campus, they proved themselves incompetent, cowardly and unaccountable for their glacial actions.
Reports say the building where the shooting occurred was supposed to be key card-access only. Yet, a gunman with a former connection to the university gained access, took two lives, and wounded nine others. For a university that charges $71,000 annually for tuition and boasts a $7.2 billion endowment, they should not only have top-notch security, but be more accountable for their massive security failures.
At Thursday evening’s press conference, Brown University President Christina Paxson revealed:
Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente was enrolled at Brown from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001. He was admitted to Brown's graduate school to study in the Masters of Science PhD program in physics.
During his time with Brown, Neves-Valente was enrolled only in physics classes. The majority of physics classes at Brown have always been held within the Barus & Holley classrooms and labs…
He has no current active affiliation with the university or campus presence.
Twenty-four years is a long time to be absent from this university. To suddenly come back and access a supposedly secure building beggars belief. Why is the university not answering questions on why this was allowed to happen?
We have also learned that in 2017, Paxson wrote to President Donald Trump to advocate for Dreamers:
Paxson has waded into political waters on multiple occasions as Brown’s president, including in 2017 when she joined other university presidents in sending a letter to President Donald Trump related to immigration, and urging protection and financial assistance for DACA students.
While this gives more context to the quality (or lack thereof) of Brown University’s leadership, it also points to our country’s failed immigration policies. Neves Valente entered the country on student visa, and like too many others, overstayed his welcome.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on X:
So, here’s what we now know:
- Had the campus lockdown happened earlier and a perimeter set, the gunman may not have escaped.
- It took police over 10 minutes after the first dispatch call to enter the Barus and Holley building to confront the shooter. By that time, he had already fled. Had police responded sooner, lives might have been saved.
- Had law enforcement not announced that a person of interest (who was soon released) had been taken into custody, Neves Valente may not have slipped away unnoticed, thus preventing the eventual murder of Loureiro.
Instead, three families are dealing with unexpected and unmatched grief. Three beautiful lives who gave to their communities from their God-given treasure troves are now lost to us. All thanks to botched security protocols and rank incompetence.
Law enforcement and leaders from Providence and Brown University want to wrap this all up in a bow and pat themselves on the back. But questions remain. What was Neves Valente’s motive in targeting this particular study session on that particular day? Why murder two promising young students?
Reports continue to deny that Cook was targeted, but I do not believe Occam’s Razor applies here. The math is not mathing.
The founder and Chairman of College Republicans of America also wonders why no motive has been forthcoming:
Why did this Brown shooter, Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, kill Ella Cook, my College Republicans VP, Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, a freshman foreign student, and Nuno Loureiro, a MIT professor working on cutting edge nuclear tech? None of this makes sense. When will we get a motive?
Sadly, we may never know. But Brown University should have been the first line of defense in protecting its students and staff, and they botched this mission. Could that be because Vice President for Public Safety and Emergency Management Rodney Chatman, the person in charge of Brown University campus security, considered his mission to be about “compassion” and minimizing anxiety over police presence? Chatman was reportedly focused on DEI and touchy-feely listening programs instead of ensuring that their over 1,200 cameras were in needed places and their security personnel could present a strong force when needed.
This tragic shooting weighed the university in the balance, and they were found wanting. Ella Cook, Mukhammad Umurzokov, and Nuno Loureiro lost their lives because of it.
Jennifer Oliver O'Connell, As the Girl Turns, is an investigative journalist, author, opinion analyst, and contributor to 1819 News, Redstate, and other publications. Jennifer writes on Politics and Pop Culture, with occasional detours into Reinvention, Yoga, and Food. You can read more about Jennifer's world at her As the Girl Turns website. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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