Student baselessly blamed for Brown University shooting online
- Published on December 19, 2025 at 23:56
- Updated on December 20, 2025 at 05:28
- 5 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
Before police identified the shooter who fired on a Brown University study session as 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, a torrent of posts from mostly anonymous accounts on X claimed the gunman who killed two students and wounded multiple others was a Palestinian student at the school named Mustapha Kharbouch. But there was never any credible evidence implicating Kharbouch in the attack; the university and Rhode Island attorney general both warned against online doxxing while the manhunt was underway and said the student had no relevance to the investigation.
"Alert: According to several news and social media reports, the Brown shooter is radical pro Palestinian activist Mustapha Kharbouch, a Radical Islamic Terrorist!!" said a December 17, 2025 post sharing the student's photo.
Another claimed the individual had "been identified as a suspect."
Similar posts, many outright accusing the student of the shooting, spread widely across X as investigators surged resources to Providence, Rhode Island and searched over multiple days for the gunman who killed two people during a December 13 exam review session at one of America's top universities.
The allegations appeared to originate with the anonymous X account "@0hour1," which repeatedly posted photos and videos of Kharbouch on December 15, sometimes alongside images police had released of the person of interest. The student's photos and email address were quickly plastered across X, sparking calls for their punishment or death.
Many posts highlighted the student's documented history of pro-Palestinian activism, while several attempted to compare the individual's body and gait to a person of interest shown in footage released by police. Others dug up a review for a gun accessory left by a buyer with the same first name and last initial.
Right-wing podcaster Tim Pool and US Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon joined in amplifying the narrative, which gained further momentum as Brown University webpages mentioning Kharbouch or listing their contact information appeared to be removed, fueling claims of a cover-up. Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman also reshared multiple posts floating the allegations.
But officials leading the investigation -- who initially detained another man before later releasing him -- identified Neves Valente as the suspect in a December 18 press conference and statement (archived here). They said the 48-year-old, a Portuguese national who attended the Ivy League institution in the early 2000s and studied physics, had been found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a New Hampshire storage unit that night. He was believed to have acted alone.
Officials said they also believe the same man, who had legal permanent resident status, was responsible for the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor in his Boston home December 15. US attorney Leah Foley said he attended the same academic program in Portugal as the deceased, professor Nuno Loureiro.
An affidavit and arrest warrant detailing the case and charges against Neves Valente includes photos of him from a rental car facility. The images further prove he is a different person than Kharbouch.
"Criminal investigations are grounded in evidence, not speculation or online commentary," Darnell Weaver, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, said at the briefing. "The endless barrage of misinformation, disinformation, rumors, leaks and clickbait were not helpful in this investigation. Distractions and unfounded criticisms do not support this work. They complicate it."
Brown University President Christina Paxon added that the "online rumors and accusations" were "devastating" and "truly troubling activity."
In a December 19 statement shared with AFP, Kharbouch's legal team said they had cooperated with inquiries from law enforcement and called the allegations "disturbing, racist, and hateful."
"Let's be clear: racism against Palestinians is at the core of these baseless attacks. Bad faith actors moved to pin the shooting on Mustapha, on the mere basis of his being Palestinian," the statement said. "No person should have to endure what Mustapha did, simply because of their identity."
In their own statement, Kharbouch called the experience "an unimaginable nightmare."
"Instead of grieving with my community in the aftermath of the horrible shooting, I received non-stop death threats and hate speech."
'Harmful doxxing activity'
Prior to the announcement of a suspect, a member of a local law enforcement agency involved in the investigation told AFP in a December 18 interview that Kharbouch was "not, nor has he been a person of interest."
The source said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha was referring to the Palestinian student when he warned during a December 16 press conference that online speculation is "a really dangerous road to go down" (archived here).
"If that name meant anything to this investigation, we would be out looking for that person. We would let you know we were looking for that person," Neronha said.
In its own December 16 statement, Brown University had warned against "harmful doxxing activity directed toward at least one member of the Brown University community" and reiterated that law enforcement would have made it known "if this individual's name had any relevance to the current investigation."
"It is not unusual as a safety measure to take steps to protect an individual's safety when this kind of activity happens, including in regard to their online presence," the university said, calling the social media accusations "dangerous."
Brian E. Clark, a university spokesperson, confirmed to AFP in a December 18 email that the school's statement was also referring to Kharbouch.
US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat representing Rhode Island, similarly addressed the unsubstantiated internet rumors during a December 17 hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying it "is not helpful to the investigation" and overwhelms the tip lines used by law enforcement (archived here).
"Whether it is to protect the law enforcement investigation from a lot of unnecessary and ill-informed noise cluttering up the ability of the many agencies working on this to do their jobs, or whether it is out of simple courtesy and sympathy to the families that are going through this awful moment, just please shut up with the speculation," Whitehouse said.
Misinformation frequently circulates in the wake of shooting incidents, as information gaps leave room for false claims to take hold and flourish. AFP has spoken multiple people misidentified on social media, including here, here and here.
This fact-check was updated to include statements from Mustapha Kharbouch and their legal representation.December 19, 2025 This fact-check was updated to include statements from Mustapha Kharbouch and their legal representation.
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