News briefs

Tribune News Service on Dec 19, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

A Reddit post from a homeless man at Brown University helped investigators find mass shooter

BOSTON — Police are probably going to sift through a lot more Reddit posts in the future. One of those online posts played a big role in helping investigators find the suspect who killed two students at Brown University, and injured nine others, before slaying the MIT professor in Brookline.

The 48-year-old suspect, Claudio Neves-Valente, was found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility Thursday night. Authorities say he killed Brown University students Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and Ella Cook, and then he murdered MIT professor Nuno Loureiro.

It took investigators a long time to ID the suspect after the mass shooting Saturday night in Providence, followed by the assassination of the professor Monday night. Then on Tuesday, authorities received a tip from an anonymous source about a Reddit post on the Providence sub-Reddit, according to the affidavit.

The Reddit poster — a homeless man — claimed that he saw the suspected shooter walking in the area of the Brown University mass shooting. “I’m being dead serious,” reads the Reddit post. “The police need to look into a grey Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental. That was the car he was driving.”

—Boston Herald

California woman led transnational 'Terrorgram' group from her home in the suburbs

LOS ANGELES — A Sacramento County woman who led a transnational terrorist group from the "comfort of her suburban California home" was sentenced this week to 30 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice.

Dallas Humber, 35 of Elk Grove, was labeled by federal officials a leader of the Terrorgram Collective, which promotes violent white supremacy and encourages followers to assassinate government officials and commit hate crimes.

Federal officials said individuals across the globe committed or plotted attacks "inspired and guided by Humber," including an attack on an energy facility in New Jersey and a plot to murder two people in Wisconsin.

Humber was sentenced Wednesday after being convicted of soliciting hate crimes, soliciting the murder of federal officials and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, federal prosecutors announced this week.

—Los Angeles Times

Mamdani names 2 deputy mayors, including new ‘economic justice’ role

NEW YORK — Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani tapped two veterans of housing and labor policy to key deputy roles in his incoming administration on Friday.

Leila Bozorg will be Mamdani’s deputy mayor for housing and Julie Su will be his deputy mayor for economic justice, he announced at a press conference on Staten Island.

Mamdani, who’s set to take office Jan. 1, said Bozgorg and Su will be able to work as partners who will be focused on carrying out key aspects of his push to make the city more affordable.

“I am eager to measure our success by one simple metric: How many forgotten New Yorkers feel themselves now represented in City Hall,” Mamdani said in describing the appointments, “and how many people across the city feel their lives measurably improved by those fortunate enough to serve them.”

—New York Daily News

China points to risk of clash with US after Taiwan arms package

China reiterated that U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan raise the chances of a clash between the superpowers — underscoring its displeasure after Washington approved a deal worth up to $11 billion.

The military assistance served to “put the people in Taiwan on a powder keg, push the Taiwan Strait toward danger and inevitably increase the risk of China-U.S. conflict and confrontation,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Friday.

“Any move of arming Taiwan will face serious consequences,” he said, adding that Beijing had filed a diplomatic complaint with Washington. Guo again said his nation “will take all measures necessary to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” without elaborating.

Also Friday, China’s Defense Ministry said it would “continue to intensify training and preparations for combat.”

—Bloomberg News