3 Students Sue Brown for Negligence and Failed Security in Mass Shooting

3 Students Sue Brown for Negligence and Failed Security in Mass Shooting

 

Three Brown University students have filed suits in Providence Superior Court alleging the school of negligence, premises liability, negligence in hiring and training, and are seeking punitive damages as it relates to the mass shooting in December.

Two students were killed, nine were wounded, and dozens more were impacted.

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Representing the students who have filed under Jane and John Doe aliases, is the firm Decof, Mega and Quinn.

The lawsuit hits on a number of themes. First, the shooter Claudio Neves Valente was repeatedly seen at Barus and Holley — the site of the December shooting weeks prior, and despite warnings, the University took no action. Valente was a former Brown graduate student.

According to the lawsuit, “In the weeks preceding the shooting, Brown custodian Derek Lisi observed Valente inside Barus and Holley on approximately a dozen occasions. During these encounters, observed Valente pacing hallways, peering into classrooms, and moving in and out of bathrooms in a manner he considered suspicious, including repeated presence in and around the area of Tanner Auditorium, where the shooting later occurred.”

 

 

“Before December 13, 2025, Lisi reported this suspicious activity to Brown campus security. In particular, Lisi reported that the individual appeared to be surveilling or "casing" the building, described him as walking with a noticeable limp, and identified specific prior encounters, including encounters on or about November 28, 2025, and December 1, 2025. Upon information and belief, Brown University surveillance footage from December 1, 2025, captured an individual matching this description in the area of Barus and Holley. Despite Lisi's reports and the suspicious nature of Valente's repeated presence and conduct in and around Barus and Holley, Brown University took no known reasonable or meaningful steps to investigate the reported threat, identify Valente, restrict his access to the building, increase monitoring or security presence, or otherwise secure Barus and Holley,” states the lawsuit.

 

Failed Security

The lawsuit also cites the failed security on campus.

“At all times relevant hereto, Brown did not maintain any meaningful or effective security presence at the relevant entrances to Barus and Holley to screen, question, deter, or restrict entry during the examination period, notwithstanding the obvious student use of the building, its integration into the surrounding urban environment, and the prior reports concerning Valente's suspicious presence there. 23. Shortly after 4:00 p.m., Valente entered Tanner Auditorium armed with semiautomatic firearms and opened fire on the students present. Witnesses described Valente as entering from the rear/top of the auditorium and walking downward while firing across the room and toward the front. As the shooting unfolded, some students ran to the teacher's desk at the front of the auditorium and hid there, while others attempted to shield themselves by crouching behind the stadium-style seats until police arrived. 24. In total, eleven students were struck by gunfire during the attack, two of whom were killed,” added the lawsuit.

“Post-incident investigative materials indicated that the shooting was the product of extended planning rather than a spontaneous act,” states the lawsuit.