THE killing of a famous MIT professor who was shot multiple times at his apartment building could be a hit job by the Iranians, it is feared.
Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist, was shot Monday night at his apartment in Brookline, Massachusetts.
He died at a local hospital on Tuesday, the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Brookline police responded to Loureiro’s apartment at around 8:30 pm on Monday after receiving reports of shots being fired.
A neighbour recalled hearing sounds that sounded like gunshots on the night of the shooting.
When authorities arrived, Loureiro was found with multiple gunshot wounds, Paul Campbell, Brookline police deputy superintendent, said.
Israeli officials are now investigating intelligence from recent days that suggests an Iranian connection to the murder of Prof. Nuno Loureiro.
This is an assessment that has not yet been verified and is not supported at this stage by official findings from the investigative authorities in the US.
Suspicions were also raised because of Loureiro’s pro-Israel stance and nuclear-adjacent fusion expertise amid tensions with Iran.
Cops have now intensified their search for a suspect after his death at his home outside Boston.
The FBI on Tuesday said it knew of no connection between the crimes.
The neighbours said: “I thought at first it was somebody in our apartment kicking in a door or something, so I called and they said no.
“They thought it was gunshots,” the neighbour, who asked not to be identified, told CBS News.
Loureiro, who was married, joined MIT in 2016 and was named last year to lead MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Centre, where he worked to advance clean energy technology and other research.
The centre, one of the school’s largest labs, had more than 250 people working across seven buildings when he took the helm. He was a professor of physics, nuclear science and engineering.
He grew up in Viseu, in central Portugaland studied in Lisbon before earning a doctorate in Londonaccording to MIT.
He was a researcher at an institute for nuclear fusion in Lisbon before joining MIT, the university said.
Loureiro was transported to Boston Hospital, where he died on Tuesday morning.
Anne Greenwald, another of Loureiro’s neighbours, said the professor had a young family who went to school in the area.
“It’s horrible, very scary,” Greenwald, who has lived in the neighbourhood for 40 years, told CBS News.
Massachusetts State Police are investigating Loureiro’s death as a homicide.