Patriot Brief
-
What Happened: MIT professor and fusion research leader Nuno Loureiro was shot multiple times inside his Brookline home and later died at a Boston hospital.
-
Why It Matters: Loureiro was a rising figure in advanced nuclear fusion research, leading one of MIT’s largest scientific centers.
-
Bottom Line: Police have no suspect in custody as investigators work to solve a high-profile and deeply unsettling homicide.
An MIT professor was fatally shot inside his Brookline, Massachusetts, home Monday night in what authorities are calling an active and ongoing homicide investigation.
Nuno Loureiro, 47, a nuclear science and engineering professor and newly appointed director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, was shot multiple times inside an apartment on Gibbs Street. Brookline police responded to reports of gunshots around 8:30 p.m. and found Loureiro wounded at the scene.
“A victim was located who had been shot multiple times,” Brookline Police Deputy Superintendent Paul Campbell told WBZ-TV.
Loureiro was rushed by ambulance to a Boston hospital, where he died Tuesday morning.
A neighbor told CBS News they initially thought the loud noises were someone forcing their way into an apartment. “I thought at first it was somebody in our apartment kicking in a door or something,” the neighbor said. “Then they said no, they thought it was gunshots.”
As of Tuesday, no suspect has been taken into custody. Police have not released information on a motive, nor have they confirmed whether they are actively searching for a suspect.
“This is an active and ongoing homicide investigation,” the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Loureiro, a Portuguese-born theoretical physicist and fusion scientist, joined MIT’s faculty in 2016 and was named deputy director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center in 2022. Earlier this year, he took over as director of the center, which employs more than 250 researchers, staff, and students across seven buildings.
MIT confirmed his death and praised his leadership and contributions to fusion research, calling him a major figure in one of the institute’s largest and most advanced labs.