Tipsheet

NO ONE Should Be Clapping for the Providence Mayor After the Brown University Shooting Fiasco

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  December 20, 2025 7:00 AM

This is what a participation trophy mindset generates: a standing ovation for Providence Mayor Brett Smiley and Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez at a Friars basketball game for solving the Brown University shooting (via Boston 25):

The Providence College Friars Men’s Basketball team hosted Seton Hall at Amica Mutual Pavilion Friday night. Before the game, the Friars wore shirts that read ‘Brown Basketball’ as a way to honor the other big school in the city. 

During a timeout in the first quarter, Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez and Providence Mayor Brett Smiley were given a standing ovation from the crowd. The cheers come a day after the alleged gunmen who shot and killed two Brown University students and a M.I.T. Professor earlier this week were found dead in Salem, New Hampshire. 

Friar fans say it’s been a tough week for the whole state. 

It’s disgusting. Sorry, these people didn’t do anything.  

I will back off Perez a little since he was working around and through the incomeptence of Brown University's incompetence. Overall, the school and state officials were a disaster in this investigation. Sure, Attorney General Peter Neronha spoke at length about grinding out leads. That is true on paper, but the presser Thursday night was rife with self-congratulations and pats on the back that were not earned. What did you people do except confuse the public, offer mind-numbingly inadequate answers, and drag innocent people into the fray by refusing to rule out suspects who were nowhere near this thing? 

The real hero and investigator was “John,” a homeless man who lived in the engineering building’s basement. He confronted the suspect, Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a Portuguese national, and got his description, including that of his rental car. He got the model, make, and its tags, later posting this to Reddit. He cracked the case. He should get the applause, not some weak, beta male of a mayor who whined about being tired. Dude, there’s an armed man on the loose; you should be tired. Second, they needed to stop saying that the public is safe despite a mass shooter being on the run.  

Valente entered Brown’s engineering building on December 13, opening fire, and killing two people and wounding nine others. Two days later, he killed MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Afterward, he absconded to a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, where he committed suicide.  

Motive is still unknown.