By Sadie Gurman and James Fanelli

Authorities are investigating a potential connection between the Saturday shooting at Brown University and another that killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor near Boston on Monday night, people familiar with the matter said.

Although investigators believe the MIT professor, Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, a physicist and fusion scientist, was specifically targeted, they are still unsure of the motive for the Brown shooting, one of the people said.

Authorities are looking at a rental car as a potential link to both attacks. Investigators have the model, type and renter of the car, another person said.

The gunman at Brown on Saturday killed two students and wounded nine others inside a classroom in a school engineering building before fleeing. Loureiro was gunned down in his apartment about 50 miles north in Brookline, Mass, and died at the hospital the next day.

Updates to follow as news develops.

Write to Sadie Gurman at sadie.gurman@wsj.com and James Fanelli at james.fanelli@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 18, 2025 17:14 ET (22:14 GMT)

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