How an anonymous tipster cracked the US university shooting case

Up until that point, the police affidavit says officials had not connected a vehicle to the possible shooter.
That detail led them to get more video of a Nissan Sentra sedan with Florida plates and enabled Providence police officers to tap into a network of more than 70 street cameras operated around the city by surveillance company Flock Safety.
MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, 47, was fatally shot in his home in Brookline, Massachusetts.Credit: AP
The next day, police publicised a new video where Valente appeared to run away from another man. The Reddit commenter didn’t respond to questions from The Associated Press earlier in the week but he returned to the forum later that Wednesday night to say that he had just been interviewed by Providence and state police investigators.
The affidavit says John gave investigators additional critical details: he encountered Valente in the toilet of the engineering building just hours before the attack, where John noted the suspect’s clothing was “inappropriate and inadequate for the weather”.
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John also bumped into Valente outside, mere blocks from the building, where John watched Valente “suddenly” turn around from the Nissan when he saw John. What ensued was then a “game of cat and mouse”, according to John’s testimony – where the two would encounter each other and Valente would run away.
At one point, John says he yelled out, “Your car is back there, why are you circling the block?”
“The suspect responded, ‘I don’t know you from nobody,’ then the suspect repeatedly asked, ‘Why are you harassing me?’ ” according to the affidavit.
John told police he eventually saw Valente approach the Nissan sedan once more and decided to walk away.
“Respectfully, I have said all I have to say on the matter to the right people,” John wrote on Reddit on Wednesday night.
As of Thursday (Friday AEDT), it’s unknown whether John will receive the $US50,000 ($75,700) reward the FBI had offered for information about the Brown shooting.
Ted Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI, said it was possible when asked by reporters.
“It would be logical to think that, absolutely, that individual would be entitled to that,” he said.
AP




