Homicide investigators are searching for the person responsible for the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor at his home. Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, was shot Monday night at his home in Brookline at about 9 p.m. He was taken to an area hospital with apparent gunshot wounds and died Tuesday morning, according to the Norfolk County district attorney’s office.”Professor Nuno Loureiro, who died early this morning, was a current MIT faculty member in the departments of Nuclear Science & Engineering and Physics, as well as the Director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center,” the school said in a statement.Neighbors reported hearing multiple gunshots Monday night. “Right around 9 o’clock, I heard three loud bangs and I thought it was somebody kicking the door or something,” one neighbor said. “We heard a really loud noise I thought it sounded like a crashing noise, but my husband heard it and he said it sounded like gunshots,” said Anne Greenwald. “It’s terrible. I mean I don’t know what happened or why it happened but it’s very scary. We’re living in such scary times right now, but it seems like violence is just happening everywhere.”Loureiro, who joined MIT in 2016, was named last year to lead MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, where he aimed to advance clean energy technology and other research. The center, one of the school’s largest labs, had more than 250 people working across seven buildings when he took the helm.Loureiro, who was married, grew up in Viseu, in central Portugal, and studied in Lisbon before earning a doctorate in London, according to MIT. He was a researcher at an institute for nuclear fusion in Lisbon before joining MIT, the school said.“He shone a bright light as a mentor, friend, teacher, colleague and leader, and was universally admired for his articulate, compassionate manner,” Dennis Whyte, an engineering professor who previously led MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, told a campus publication.The president of MIT, Sally Kornbluth, said in a statement that Loureiro’s death was a “shocking loss.”The U.S. ambassador to Portugal, John J. Arrigo, expressed his condolences in an online post that honored Loureiro for his leadership and contributions to science.“It’s not hyperbole to say MIT is where you go to find solutions to humanity’s biggest problems,” Loureiro said when he was named to lead the plasma science lab last year. “Fusion energy will change the course of human history.”Officials said it’s an active and ongoing homicide investigation involving the Norfolk County district attorney’s office, Massachusetts State Police, Brookline police and MIT police.Police have not said if there’s a suspect or what led up to the shooting. No arrests have been made. The Associated Press contributed to this report
Homicide investigators are searching for the person responsible for the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor at his home.
Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, was shot Monday night at his home in Brookline at about 9 p.m. He was taken to an area hospital with apparent gunshot wounds and died Tuesday morning, according to the Norfolk County district attorney’s office.
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“Professor Nuno Loureiro, who died early this morning, was a current MIT faculty member in the departments of Nuclear Science & Engineering and Physics, as well as the Director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center,” the school said in a statement.
Neighbors reported hearing multiple gunshots Monday night.
“Right around 9 o’clock, I heard three loud bangs and I thought it was somebody kicking the door or something,” one neighbor said.
“We heard a really loud noise I thought it sounded like a crashing noise, but my husband heard it and he said it sounded like gunshots,” said Anne Greenwald. “It’s terrible. I mean I don’t know what happened or why it happened but it’s very scary. We’re living in such scary times right now, but it seems like violence is just happening everywhere.”
Loureiro, who joined MIT in 2016, was named last year to lead MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, where he aimed to advance clean energy technology and other research. The center, one of the school’s largest labs, had more than 250 people working across seven buildings when he took the helm.
Loureiro, who was married, grew up in Viseu, in central Portugal, and studied in Lisbon before earning a doctorate in London, according to MIT. He was a researcher at an institute for nuclear fusion in Lisbon before joining MIT, the school said.
“He shone a bright light as a mentor, friend, teacher, colleague and leader, and was universally admired for his articulate, compassionate manner,” Dennis Whyte, an engineering professor who previously led MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, told a campus publication.
The president of MIT, Sally Kornbluth, said in a statement that Loureiro’s death was a “shocking loss.”
The U.S. ambassador to Portugal, John J. Arrigo, expressed his condolences in an online post that honored Loureiro for his leadership and contributions to science.
“It’s not hyperbole to say MIT is where you go to find solutions to humanity’s biggest problems,” Loureiro said when he was named to lead the plasma science lab last year. “Fusion energy will change the course of human history.”
Officials said it’s an active and ongoing homicide investigation involving the Norfolk County district attorney’s office, Massachusetts State Police, Brookline police and MIT police.
Police have not said if there’s a suspect or what led up to the shooting. No arrests have been made.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
