A prominent nuclear scientist at MIT was shot and killed inside his home in an upscale Massachusetts neighborhood on Monday night. The suspect is still at-large as of this report.
Nuno Loureiro, 47, was found dead inside his home after police responded to reports of a shooting around 8:30 Eastern Time in the community of Brookline, an upscale suburb near Boston. Loureiro was rushed to an area hospital with multiple gunshot wounds, where he was pronounced dead on Tuesday morning.
“This is an active and ongoing homicide investigation,” the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office announced in a Facebook post. “No further information is being released at this time.”
Loureiro, who was originally from Portugal and served as the director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center since 2024, also held faculty positions in the departments of Nuclear Science and Engineering and Physics. He had joined MIT in 2016 after postdoctoral work at Princeton and earlier research in Lisbon.
The incident is being treated as a homicide, with an active investigation led by the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office, Massachusetts State Police, Brookline Police, and MIT Police.
One resident described opening her door to find Loureiro lying on his back in the building’s entrance, after which she, another neighbor, and Loureiro’s wife called 911, according to a report from WCBV. Brookline Police Deputy Superintendent Paul Campbell told WBZ-TV News that the victim “had been shot multiple times,” but declined to provide any additional details.
Both law enforcement officials and the DA’s office have stated that no arrests have been made and that the investigation is ongoing.
“Our deepest sympathies are with his family, students, colleagues, and all those who are grieving,” a school spokesperson told the New York Post. “Focused outreach and conversations are taking place within our community to offer care and support for those who knew Prof. Loureiro, and a message will be shared with our wider community.
The shooting comes as police state and federal law enforcement officers are on day four of a manhunt for a gunman who killed two students and wounded nine others on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, located about 50 miles from Brookline.
