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Organizers say the anonymous tipster who helped investigators track the suspect is currently without permanent housing.
White flowers and small lights are placed in the snow in front of the Van Wickle Gates at Brown University on Feb. 7 in a memorial for Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, who were killed during the December shooting.
Nick Dentamaro / Brown University
A fundraiser has been launched for a Reddit user whose tip helped investigators identify the suspect in the December shooting at Brown University.
The anonymous tipster, publicly identified only as “John,” provided information that helped investigators track down 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, a former Brown graduate student named as the assailant in the Dec. 13 shooting in Providence and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor in Brookline two days later.
According to Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, Neves Valente fled the Brown campus after the shooting and evaded detection for days in surrounding Providence neighborhoods.
The break in the case came when the local Reddit user, John, urged police to look into a Nissan sedan with Florida license plates. Investigators were able to connect the vehicle to Neves Valente and later found him dead in Salem, New Hampshire, authorities said.
The fundraiser for John was organized by Chris Hoffman and Michelle Cheng of Ceremony, a cafe located about two blocks from where the shooting occurred.
As of Tuesday, the campaign had raised more than $10,000 toward its $50,000 goal — the same amount that had been offered as an FBI reward for information in the case.
In the campaign description, Hoffman and Cheng said they later met with John to thank him and learned that he is currently living without permanent housing. They also discovered that Hoffman and John both graduated from Brown in 2010.
“More than anything, this fundraiser is about giving John a real chance at stability,” Hoffman and Cheng wrong. “John is currently without permanent housing and is trying to build a safer, steadier future. This fundraiser is meant to help make that possible.”
According to the campaign, the funds would help cover stable housing and related expenses, urgent dental care, student loan debt, everyday necessities, and job-readiness costs like clothing and classes.
“John stepped up in one of the hardest moments our community has faced,” Hoffman and Cheng wrote. “This is our community’s way, quietly and respectfully, of stepping up for him now.”
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