A Brown University custodian reported spotting a suspicious man—later identified as alleged shooter Claudio Manuel Neves Valente—casing the engineering building nearly 10 times over several weeks starting in early November, before he ultimately opened fire there.
Derek Lisi, a 15-year veteran custodian who worked on campus, had observed the shooter numerous times and alerted security to his odd behavior on two occasions.
“He’d been casing that place for weeks,” Lisi said in an interview with the Boston Globe.
Lisi revealed that he observed the man pacing hallways, peering into classrooms (particularly Room 166 in the Barus and Holley engineering building, where a majority of the shooting took place), and attempting to avoid detection by ducking into bathrooms or walking away quickly when spotted.
The custodian said he suspects the shooter viewed him as a potential security guard himself, trying to avoid being noticed any time a person of authority was on sight.
“I knew there was something off with him,” Lisi said. “I thought it was someone trying to steal something. Every time he saw me, I think he thought I was security, because he would always walk away."
After alerting a security guard to his concerns, the pattern of odd behavior reportedly continued. Which in turn prompted another report.
When the man saw him, Lisi said, the man started walking away quickly and ducked into the bathroom.
“I said, ‘Something’s off with this guy, so I gotta say something,’” he recalls.
So he said he flagged down the same private security guard again. According to Lisi, the guard didn’t investigate.
NEW: Brown University custodian Derek Lisi told my colleague @SpencerBuell he saw the shooter in the Barus and Holley building multiple times in the weeks before the shooting, and even flagged him to a security guardhttps://t.co/kT0h1rN1b6
— Steph Machado (@StephMachado) December 22, 2025
READ MORE: Calls for Brown University President be Hauled in Front of Congress Over Deadly Campus Shooting
Officials in Brown Shooting Take Victory Lap, but Response Is Brutal
Despite security having been alerted to his presence, which should have prompted officials to be actively on the lookout, the suspect opened fire in Room 166 on December 13th, killing two students—19-year-old Ella Cook and 18-year-old Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov—and injuring nine others.
Lisi immediately recognized Neves Valente from police photos and videos by his distinctive walk, clothing, and the eerie presence he had noticed. He again contacted authorities to share his observations. At this point, however, it had sadly moved on from a see something and say something situation to a homicide investigation.
“I told my friend, ‘I hope it’s not the guy I’ve been seeing. I hope it’s not,’” he told the outlet. After seeing images, his suspicions were confirmed.
“I knew it was him because I could tell by the walk,” he said. “He had a pretty distinctive walk.”
Authorities in Providence say new video shows a man sought in connection with the Brown University shooting walking near police after the attack.
— ABC News (@ABC) December 16, 2025
The FBI asked anyone who recognized the person in the video to contact in investigators immediately.https://t.co/ydap1jaW58 pic.twitter.com/MJU1JvlI5E
Brown University has been accused of disabling security cameras as a means to protect illegal immigrants and/or pro-Palestinian agitators on campus, making it challenging to identify a suspect and prolonging the case. That incompetence also allowed the shooter to murder MIT professor Nuno Loureiro at his home two days later.
It's unclear what University security's excuse might be for ignoring an eyewitness report of blatantly bizarre behavior. If you didn't have the cameras operational, why ignore a person pleading with you to at least observe somebody acting funny?
Frankly, it's shocking they didn't fire Lisi for profiling a nearly 50-year-old Portuguese national.
Lisi criticized the building's lax access policies, calling them a "free-for-all" in which anyone could enter unchecked, and expressed regret that more wasn't done to prevent the tragedy.
The veteran custodian said he's not interested in the publicized reward for helping with the investigation.
“I just wish there was something I could have done,” Lisi told the Globe.
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