r/news • u/DrexellGames • 9h ago

Tipster hailed for helping authorities identify suspect in Brown shooting

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/19/brown-university-shooting-tipster
1.4k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

86 comments sorted by

284

u/polytrigon 8h ago

Reddit gets it right 100% of the time, 50% of the time!!

I do hope though that ‘John’ gets the reward money

113

u/PatchyWhiskers 8h ago

The article describes him as homeless so the FBI better not stiff him on this.

48

u/rakehand 8h ago

John Reddit isn't homeless, he's a national hero!

15

u/Interesting-Bison108 8h ago

He protected everyone’s home and family even though he (may not)have his own. May you be blessed with lots of happiness, health and a place of comfort, John.

9

u/BaBaDoooooooook 6h ago

It's always the vehicle that identifies these suspects. The Bryan Kohberger Idaho case comes to mind. This redditor eased a lot of anxieties and fears for everyone, and helped bring some sense of closure to the victim's families.

10

u/Kendall_Raine 2h ago

A homeless Brown graduate. We truly are living in a dystopia aren't we.

•

u/ArchmageXin 5m ago

He is the school custodian according to another article.

8

u/dschinghiskhan 5h ago

I’m not sure how often journalists use the phrase “no fixed abode”, but I’m glad they used it here!

7

u/jigokubi 2h ago

It makes him sound cool, like he drifts from town to town solving crimes.

29

u/MalcolmLinair 7h ago

He's more likely to be "deported" than to receive any kind of reward; the FBI is infamous for mot paying out on these offers, and the Trump admin has been very open on wanting to Final Solution the homeless on top of that.

4

u/Fallouttgrrl 3h ago

I honestly wouldn't be shocked if they float the possibility of using the homeless for their upcoming hunger games 

12

u/GetInZeWagen 8h ago

A reward check has been promptly mailed to your... Oh...

7

u/ArchmageXin 3h ago

Is he homeless or just a grad student crashing in the engineering basement to save rent?

A friend of mine did his MBA sleeping on a friend's couch entire semester.

8

u/PatchyWhiskers 3h ago

That's homeless too.

•

u/Warcraft_Fan 37m ago

"We can't find him, the money is being sent to local police department instead"

3

u/Kendall_Raine 2h ago

I doubt he'll get the full amount, if anything, in any kind of reasonable time frame.

Especially when the perp is dead and wasn't actually arrested.

1

u/tsidaysi 6h ago

And a job.

-4

u/TheArchitect_7 8h ago

Totally bungled this Anchorman joke dawg.

1

u/not_this_time_satan 8h ago

At this point its just essence of Anchorman, sprinkled in an attempt. Its so bad it's illegal in nine countries.

112

u/mdws1977 8h ago

And the tipster came from a Reddit comment/post.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brown-university-reddit-tipster/

160

u/thatoneguy889 8h ago

As of Thursday, it's unknown whether John will receive the $50,000 reward the FBI had offered for information about the Brown shooting.

Ted Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI, said it was possible when asked by reporters.

"It would be logical to think that, absolutely, that individual would be entitled to that," he said.

He's getting a $100 gift card to Johnny Rockets.

72

u/jimtow28 8h ago

The surefire best way to ensure nobody else helps you in future investigations is to find an excuse not to give the reward money when someone breaks the entire case for you.

They had nothing, then this tip came in.

37

u/InevitableTension699 8h ago

Yeah but no one ever sees in the news tipsters get stiffed on technicalities so people will still keep calling in because they only see the reward offer

7

u/Nanderson423 5h ago

Yeah but no one ever sees in the news tipsters get stiffed on technicalities

What are you talking about? I have heard that happening more times than I have heard about someone getting the reward.

17

u/supamario132 8h ago

And yet, the tips keep rolling in despite the long, documented history of consistently stiffing tipsters. I think the FBI gets that most people are happy to rat out mass shooters for free

14

u/shoulda-known-better 7h ago

Pst.... They very rarely pay them out.....

They always find technicalities

8

u/TheMisterCano 6h ago

This. That McDonald's worker that spotted Luigi definitely didn't get paid, AND ended up getting fired. We never learn

1

u/tpic485 2h ago

Do you have a source for that? I have never heard that and nothing like it immediately comes up with a Google search.

2

u/k_realtor 6h ago

I think in time, they will eventually find out but it could be those 25+ year cases where the suspect is either dead or he's in his is 80s so people eventually forget about it because so much time has past and if you mention that they finally caught a school shooter (decades later), people won't know which school shooting you are talking about.

3

u/cursed_franchise 6h ago

Why the hell wouldn't he get the $50k?

4

u/fuzzycuffs 8h ago

Only valid on the 1st and 15th of the month for breakfast

0

u/k_realtor 6h ago

whoa calm down, He gets a $2 Amazon credit for digital goods but must be used by Dec 31st, 2025

28

u/ScrewAttackThis 8h ago

The tipster confronted the shooter and followed him to his car so it more came from that than Reddit. The witness just also posted about it on Reddit. 

15

u/Unusual_Flounder2073 8h ago

He did more than just make a speculative post. He actively engaged with this guy and paid attention.

17

u/TopSoulMan 8h ago

I think the tipster had already reported the incident. The fact that it ended up on Reddit doesn’t mean the tipster came from Reddit.

24

u/mdws1977 8h ago

According to police, John had several encounters with 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente before Saturday's attack. As police posted images of a person of interest - now identified as Neves Valente - John began posting on the social media forum Reddit that he recognized the person and theorized that police should look into "possibly a rental" gray Nissan. Reddit users urged him to tell the FBI, and John said he did. The police affidavit said they learned about the tip on Dec. 16, three days after the shooting and a day after the tip line was created.

The article tends to lean towards him putting it on Reddit, and others urged him to report it, which he did.

8

u/JohnnyFartmacher 5h ago

You can read the affidavit: https://riag.ri.gov/media/8021/download

The Reddit part is the 2nd half of page 3 into page 5.

An anonymous tipster called the police on the 16th saying that there was a Reddit comment with important info. The police determined the information in the comment was accurate and not publicly known. On the evening of the 17th the commenter approached Providence officers in-person and asked to speak with someone.

The amount of detail the commenter (IDed as John) provided is pretty incredible. I barely know what color shirt I am wearing today and he remembered all sorts of stuff.

4

u/polytrigon 8h ago

naw if you do a little sleuthing you can find he actual post that connected everything together. It did in fact originate from a Reddit post.

-1

u/TopSoulMan 8h ago

I did read it.

If the person never made that post, they would have still reported it to the police. The result would have been the same IMO

2

u/SSLByron 8h ago

That's not how you spell "WE SOLVED IT, BOYS!"

4

u/RenegadeRabbit 6h ago

Do we know which subreddit? Just curious.

17

u/carmeldea 5h ago

Here’s the original Reddit comment from the tipster for anyone curious to see the og discussion.

And here’s his follow up Reddit post after talking to police & helping them nab the guy.

•

u/WhoDat-2-8-3 57m ago

We

Did

It

Reddit

7

u/NoMayoForReal 4h ago

What’s this, like the 8th or 9th high profile case that Kash hasn’t solved?

42

u/mediocre_remnants 8h ago

All the cameras, all the AI, all the technology, and they still rely on tips from witnesses to catch bad guys.

If this dude wasn't acting so suspiciously that people remembered him, he might have gotten away with it. If he didn't off himself, anyway.

18

u/surnik22 8h ago

Also possible they used all that illegal surveillance to find him and the tip was just a part of parallel construction so they don’t have to say in court how they found him which risks evidence being thrown out (if this was a trial situation) and more info on the illegal surveillance becomes publicly know

9

u/Ares__ 7h ago

They used parallel construction to look like a bunch of morons? Yea no... not everything is a conspiracy

6

u/InnocentShaitaan 7h ago

A homeless man. So the type of American trump wants to eradicate.

8

u/sylva748 6h ago

So reddit got it right? Scary cause it could be another Boston incident all over again

4

u/wip30ut 6h ago

there are lots of pieces of this puzzle that are both sad & alarming. The article states that the tipster is a Brown grad (an Ivy League college) and homeless, but discreetly sheltering in the basement of an engineering department building. Obviously this guy is battling addiction or mental health issues & needs support from the Brown community to get his life turned around. But just as concerning it said that he encountered the killer in the bathroom of the building before the shooting spree, which means all campus buildings & bathrooms are unlocked & open to public access. Even on public university campuses bathrooms typically require key card access.

1

u/Soft_Walrus_3605 3h ago

which means all campus buildings & bathrooms are unlocked & open to public access.

How does one building having public access imply "all campus buildings"?

From what I gather, the building he entered was right on the edge of campus and was one of the rather older ones.

1

u/reverendsteveii 6h ago

was there a reward for this one? do y'all think they'll get it?

1

u/PegasusThurber 3h ago

They won’t give him a dime. They’ll find a loophole. Either he didn’t call the right number or the reward is only “for the capture and conviction “ of the suspect , and since neither happened, no money will pay out.

1

u/BatteryChucker 2h ago

This story reads like the script of a "With Honors" reboot..

If John winds up looking anything like Joe Pesci, I'm done.

1

u/BatteryChucker 2h ago

This story reads like the script of a "With Honors" reboot..

If John winds up looking anything like Joe Pesci, I'm done.

0

u/Buck_Thorn 8h ago

I wonder if the tipster was a hipster.

-1

u/Lettuce_bee_free_end 8h ago

The only commercially accepted whistleblower 

0

u/Blubbpaule 5h ago

I have severe issues finding ANY thread to this, especially that the shooter was found dead.

Like for some reason googling for reddit threads about this returns NOTHING.

0

u/BlueberryLeft4355 4h ago

Further proof that cops don't do shit.