The mayor of Providence, Brett Smiley, and company were treated to a standing ovation last week. For what? They didn’t do anything. That honor goes to a homeless man named “John” who cracked the Brown University shooting wide open, confronting the shooter, Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a Portuguese national, and later getting his description and that of the rental car he was using. Valente killed two people and wounded another nine on December 13. He was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound five days later.
“John” posted about the encounter on Reddit. He had been living in the basement of the school’s engineering building, which was targeted in the attack. He’s eligible for the $50,000 reward. For now, he’s enjoying staying in a hotel for the holidays:
This man is the hero, not any of the Rhode Island or Brown officials who displayed gross incompetence in this investigation. Smiley whined about being tired. Yeah, man, that’s the deal here when an armed individual is on the loose and a threat to public safety. The more pressers were held, the more shambolic things got. At one point, it seemed as if Valente got away with it, and likely would have if “John” hadn’t confronted him. Valente changed license plates and was adept at avoiding detection.
🚨 BREAKING: Homeless hero JOHN who cracked the Brown University shooting case is being TAKEN CARE OF by federal officials.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 21, 2025
"Staying at a hotel, being fed."
He COULD get the $50K reward!
John lived INSIDE the building where the tragedy took place, confronted the shooter… pic.twitter.com/irIFVQT5S3
“John” got him dead to rights, though, capturing Valente’s rental car description and its tags. It was only a matter of time and luck since we had officials who weren’t playing with a full deck.