How A Reddit Poster Solved The Brown University Mass Shooting

A man known only as "John" is being hailed as a hero after posting information on Reddit that helped solve the Brown University mass shooting.

NBC News reported that "John" began making posts on Reddit about a strange encounter he had with the suspected gunman, who turned out to be Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, on the day of the shooting that killed two students and injured nine. "John" was able to provide key information related to Valente's vehicle.

"He blew this case right open," Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told reporters.

On Saturday, in the midst of final exams, a gunman dressed in all black entered a classroom and opened fire on students and faculty at Brown University in Providence. The gunman was able to avoid law enforcement and escape, despite a massive manhunt. Investigators began releasing footage of the gunman, wearing a mask, walking to and from the crime scene. They also offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

"John" began posting on Reddit three days after the shooting that police needed to look at a grey Nissan with Florida plates, NBC News reported.

The Guardian reported that "John's" posts on Reddit caught the attention of investigators who wanted to talk to him. Others on Reddit also urged him to go to the police. According to authorities, "John" approached a Providence police officer and said, "I think you are looking for me." His subsequent interview effectively solved the case.

"He came in and was fully forthcoming, provided key details ... We had disparate pieces of information, and we had strong suspicions that these pieces of information fit together but it hadn't been corroborated, and he was able to do that for us, and so it was really a critical turning point," Brett Smiley, the mayor of Providence, said in an interview with CNN.

In the interview, "John," told police about running into the suspect in the bathroom of the Barus Holley building at Brown on the day of the shooting, NBC News reported.

According to the network, he told police that the man's clothing was light given the harsh New England weather and that he was acting weird. He followed the man outside the bathroom into the parking garage, where he was confronted: "Why are you harassing me?"

"John's" information about the man's car allowed them to identify Claudio Manuel Neves Valente as a suspect. On Thursday he was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a New Hampshire storage unit, Fox News reported.

According to Fox News, Valente also is suspected of killing MIT professor Nuno Loureiro on Monday near his home. Loureiro lived in Massachusetts, about 50 miles from Brown University.

Fox reported that Valente had studied at Brown from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001, but withdrew after a leave of absence in 2003. Authorities also believe that Valente was terminated from a monitor position at the Instituto Superior Tecnico in Portugal in 2000, a university that Loureiro once attended.