Brown University and MIT Shooter Planned Attack for Over 3 Years... No Remorse or Apology

U.S. Federal Agents Release Translated Video Transcript
Four Videos Reveal Details of Crime Preparation
Motive Remains Unclear... "Investigation Ongoing"

Photo of Claudiu Neves Valent, a shooting murderer, released by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts on December 18 last year. Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

In mid-December last year, a shooting murderer who killed students from Brown University and a professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States confessed to his crimes in a video recorded immediately after the incident.

The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts announced on the 6th (local time) that Claudiu Neves Valent, 48, left a short video containing this confession before taking his own life at a warehouse facility in Salem, New Hampshire.

The four videos, discovered by federal agents while searching the Salem warehouse, were recorded in Portuguese and have a total duration of 11 minutes. The U.S. Department of Justice released an English translation of the video transcript, which is about 1,600 words long.

Valent stated, "I have been planning the Brown University shooting for a long time," and added, "I planned it for more than six semesters (equivalent to three years at Brown University). The planning began even earlier." He also said that he had several opportunities to carry out the plan earlier but always gave up out of fear. He mentioned that he had been using the warehouse in Salem for about three years.

He expressed neither apology nor remorse for the victims. He said, "I have nothing to apologize for," explaining, "because no one ever sincerely apologized to me during my lifetime."

He stated that he felt neither hatred nor affection for the United States, saying, "Whether it is Portugal or most of the places I have lived or visited, it is all the same," and added, "I have been here for a very long time without any affection for any place or region." He also said that coming to the United States from Portugal was a mistake.

Although he expressed no regret for the crime itself, he did regret that his execution of the shooting was somewhat clumsy, as he was seriously injured in the eye by a shell casing during the incident.

However, he did not reveal his motive for the crime in the videos. Regarding this, the U.S. Attorney's Office stated, "The investigation into the motive behind Valent's brutal crimes will continue."

The New York Times commented, "Throughout the anxious, rambling, and at times difficult-to-understand monologue, there is a pervasive sense of victimhood over mysterious pain and injustice he felt he had endured, as well as a deep belief that this world can no longer be saved."