Portuguese MIT professor shot dead at home in Massachusetts, motives unknown

An MIT professor was shot and killed at his home in Massachusetts on Monday night, authorities confirmed Tuesday.

Nuno Loureiro, 47, a Portuguese professor of nuclear science and engineering, was found with multiple gunshot wounds at his apartment on Gibbs Street in Brookline at about 8.30 pm and died Tuesday morning at a Boston hospital.

Brookline police Deputy Superintendent Paul Campbell said officers responded to reports of shots fired. The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office said the investigation is ongoing and no suspects are in custody.

Brookline Police Chief Jennifer Paster said patrol cars and unmarked units will be deployed in the neighbourhood during the investigation.

Anne Greenwald, who has lived in the area for 40 years, told domestic press she heard a loud noise that sounded like gunshots. "It's horrible, very scary," she said, adding that Loureiro lived with his young family in the neighbourhood.

Eurydice Hirsey, a family friend, said the family is "feeling such raw horror".

MIT confirmed Loureiro had been a faculty member since 2016. He was appointed director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Centre in May 2024, one of MIT's largest laboratories with more than 250 researchers, students and staff.

Loureiro was known for his research on plasma physics and astronomical phenomena including solar flares, as well as studying ways to harness clean fusion energy to address climate change.

Portugal mourns loss of top scientist

Portugal's Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel announced Loureiro's death to the country's parliament on Tuesday during a hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Portuguese Communities.

The Instituto Superior Técnico, where Loureiro studied and worked before moving to MIT in 2016, said friends and colleagues were "deeply shocked by his premature death."

"We remember a brilliant colleague with whom it was a scientific and personal pleasure to collaborate," the institutions said in a statement.

US Ambassador to Portugal John Arrigo expressed his condolences. "I extend my deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Nuno Loureiro, who led MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center," Arrigo said. "We honour his life, his leadership in science, and his enduring contributions."

Loureiro, originally from Viseu in central Portugal, graduated from Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon in 2000 before earning his doctorate at Imperial College London in 2005.

Loureiro was born to a Sephardic Jewish family, but there are no indications at this time that his faith or background were part of the motive for his killing.

Recent violence targeting the Jewish community in the US includes the May killings of two people attending an Israeli embassy event in Washington.

On Sunday, 15 people were killed and more than 40 were wounded when gunmen opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney in Australia, in an attack authorities described as antisemitic and inspired by the so-called Islamic State terrorist group.

Loureiro's murder occurred days after a gunman killed two people and wounded nine at Brown University in Rhode Island. FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks said Tuesday there appeared to be no connection between the two incidents.