MIT professor killed in Brookline home, investigation ongoing
Mystery and heartbreak are hanging over MIT’s campus after a world-renowned nuclear science professor was shot and killed inside his home, sending shockwaves through the scientific community.
(NBC)- Mystery and heartbreak are hanging over MIT’s campus after a world-renowned nuclear science professor was shot and killed inside his home, sending shockwaves through the scientific community.
Neighbors gathered at a vigil near the professor’s building in the Boston suburb of Brookline, struggling to make sense of the violence.
“So tragic, so frightening, so insane,” one neighbor said.
Authorities say Nuno Loureiro, the head of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, was shot multiple times in the entrance of his residential building. A 911 call released through Broadcastify captured the initial moments of the emergency.
“Report of gunshots. Father was shot multiple times,” a dispatcher said.
Nearly 48 hours later, the search for the gunman continues. Loureiro, 47, was a father of three daughters and a globally respected physicist whose research focused on plasma science and nuclear fusion.
Bruno Goncalves, president of Portugal’s Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion, worked with Loureiro for years and described the devastation rippling through the scientific world.
“Everyone was extremely shocked—shocked by the violence of the event,” Goncalves said. “Shocked because he was a really nice person.”
Brookline police referred NBC News to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office, which released a brief statement saying the case remains an active homicide investigation and that no additional details are being made public at this time.
Meanwhile, authorities in Providence, Rhode Island, are pushing back on speculation that the killing could be connected to a separate recent tragedy at Brown University, saying there is no indication of a link.
Investigators have not responded to questions about a possible motive. Goncalves says understanding why this happened is critical—not only for justice, but for safety.