Brown University police chief placed on leave after fatal shooting, feds launch investigation

Brown University Places Campus Police Chief on Leave Following Deadly Shooting

Brown University President Christina Paxson has placed campus police chief Rodney Chatman on administrative leave as the institution conducts a comprehensive review of its security policies in the wake of a campus shooting that left two students dead and nine others wounded earlier this month.

The December 13 attack, which devastated the Providence community, has raised serious questions about security measures at the Ivy League institution. Hugh T. Clements, former chief of the Providence Police Department, will step in to lead campus law enforcement during the review.

The leadership change comes amid mounting scrutiny of Brown’s security protocols. Chatman had already faced challenges in his role, with the union representing campus police officers issuing a vote of no confidence in October. Local media reported at the time that the union cited “serious concerns over the failed leadership, contract violations, and policies that jeopardize public safety.”

The U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation to determine whether Brown violated federal campus safety and security requirements. Federal officials have requested security reports, audits, dispatch logs, and information about the university’s emergency notification procedures. Particular attention has focused on whether security cameras were installed in the building where the shooting occurred and concerns about the general ease of accessing campus buildings.

The gunman, identified as 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, entered a study session in an academic building and opened fire on students, killing sophomore Ella Cook and 18-year-old freshman MukhammadAziz Umurzokov while wounding nine others. Neves Valente had briefly been a graduate student at Brown, studying physics during the 2000-01 academic year.

In a disturbing development two days after the campus shooting, authorities say Neves Valente also fatally shot Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro at the professor’s Boston-area home. The two had attended school together in Portugal during the 1990s.

The manhunt for Neves Valente concluded when authorities found him dead in a New Hampshire storage facility. An autopsy determined he died by suicide on December 16, the same day Loureiro died in the hospital from his injuries.

On Monday, hundreds gathered at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, to remember Ella Cook. The Episcopal funeral service reflected Cook’s strong Christian faith, with her family inviting attendees to wear “Easter colors” despite the Christmas season.

The Reverend Paul F.M. Zahl, former leader of the church, read letters from members of the Brown community addressed to Cook’s parents, Anna Bishop Cook and Richard Cook, who raised Ella and her two younger siblings in the affluent Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook.

“Ella was smart, confident, curious, kind, principled, brave. She had a big impact on campus in only three semesters,” wrote Brown professor of political economy David Skarbek. “I used to tell Ella, ‘We need an Alabama to Brown pipeline.’ In fact, her nickname on campus was Ellabama.”

Cook was an accomplished pianist studying French, mathematics, and economics at Brown. She also served as vice president of the college Republicans, and her political activity prompted responses from national and Alabama Republican figures. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey ordered flags across the state to be flown at half-staff in Cook’s memory.

The tragedy has left both the Brown University and broader academic communities reeling as they grapple with questions of campus safety, security protocols, and the senseless loss of promising young lives. As the investigations continue, university administrators face difficult questions about how to balance accessibility with security on college campuses.