A homeless man credited for cracking the shootings at the campuses of Brown University and MIT is now “entitled” to a $50,000 reward, federal officials confirmed via the New York Post.
The tipster, identified publicly as John, was crucial in providing evidence that led to Claudio Neves Valente being identified as the suspect in both college shootings following an odd encounter between the two.
“He blew this case right open,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said of John via the New York Post.
Investigators were scrambling to identify gunman responsible for killing two students at Brown University on Saturday (December 13), who was tied to the fatal shooting of an MIT professor two days later. Ted Docks, a special agent in charge of the FBI, said John would be eligible for his reward after authorities had previously shared his image publicly as someone they wanted to speak to.
“It would be logical to think that, absolutely, that individual would be entitled to that,” Docks said via the New York Post.
John posted on Reddit that he recognized the images authorities shared of the suspect following the initial shooting at Brown University.
“I’m being dead serious,” the Reddit post stated, according to court documents.
“The police need to look into a grey Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental.”
“I know because he used his key fob to open the car, approached it, and then something prompted him to back away,” he added. “When he backed away, he relocked the car. I found that odd, so when he circled the block, I approached the car that is when I saw the Florida plates.”
John met with investigators after his image was shared publicly and said he had an odd “cat and mouse” interaction with the suspect, having encountered Neves Valente in a bathroom in Brown University’s engineering building hours before the shooting, claiming his clothes were “inappropriate and inadequate for the weather.” John was reported to be living in the basement of the engineering building at the time of the incident, sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to FOX News.
John later bumped into Neves Valente outside the building and followed him, yelling out, “Your car is back there, why are you circling the block?” according to his affidavit.
“The Suspect responded, ‘I don’t know you from nobody,’ then Suspect repeatedly asked, ’Why are you harassing me?’” court files state.
Authorities then used additional surveillance footage that led them to Neves Valente, who was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot, nearly 24 hours later.
“When you crack it, you crack it,” the attorney general said of John via the New York Post.
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