MIT professor Nuno Loureiro killed in shooting at his Brookline home
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Brookline: A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor was fatally shot at his home near Boston, prompting authorities to launch a homicide investigation, officials said Tuesday.
Police intensified their search Wednesday for a suspect in the shooting of Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist, who was killed at his apartment in Brookline, Massachusetts, on Monday night. He died at a local hospital on Tuesday, according to the Norfolk District Attorney's Office.
The prosecutor’s office confirmed the homicide investigation is ongoing, and no suspects were in custody as of Wednesday morning.
The investigation comes amid another unsolved shooting at Brown University, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) away in Providence, Rhode Island, which killed two students and wounded nine others on Saturday. The FBI stated there is no known connection between the two incidents.
Loureiro, who joined MIT in 2016, was named last year to lead the Plasma Science and Fusion Centre, a lab focused on clean energy and fusion research with over 250 personnel working across seven buildings. He was widely regarded for his mentorship and leadership.
“He shone a bright light as a mentor, friend, teacher, colleague and leader, and was universally admired for his articulate, compassionate manner,” said Dennis Whyte, an MIT engineering professor and former head of the Plasma Science and Fusion Centre.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth called Loureiro’s death a “shocking loss.” Residents near Loureiro’s apartment described hearing three loud noises Monday evening, which they feared were gunshots. A 22-year-old Boston University student, Liv Schachner, told The Boston Globe: “I had never heard anything so loud, so I assumed they were gunshots. It’s difficult to grasp. It just seems like it keeps happening.”
Some of Loureiro’s students visited his apartment Tuesday afternoon to pay their respects.
Born in Viseu, Portugal, Loureiro studied in Lisbon before earning a doctorate in London. He was a researcher at a nuclear fusion institute in Lisbon before joining MIT. He was married.
The US ambassador to Portugal, John J. Arrigo, expressed condolences online, honoring Loureiro’s leadership and contributions to science.
Loureiro had said when appointed to lead MIT’s plasma science lab: “It’s not hyperbole to say MIT is where you go to find solutions to humanity’s biggest problems. Fusion energy will change the course of human history.”
With PTI inputs
