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Prominent plasma physicist and newly appointed director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center killed in Brookline shooting.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Nuno Loureiro, a 47-year-old MIT professor specializing in nuclear science and engineering, was fatally shot in his Brookline, Massachusetts, home on Monday night, police confirmed.
According to CBS News, Loureiro was shot multiple times and transported to a Boston hospital, where he died Tuesday morning. A neighbor reported hearing “three loud bangs“ around 8:30 p.m. Monday, initially mistaking the sounds for a door being forced open before realizing they were likely gunshots.
“I thought at first it was somebody in our apartment kicking in a door or something, so I called the neighbors, and they said no, they thought it was gunshots,” the neighbor told CBS News.
Brookline police confirmed officers responded to a gunfire report at an apartment on Gibbs Street. “A victim was located who had been shot multiple times,” Brookline Police Deputy Superintendent Paul Campbell told WBZ-TV. No suspect is currently in custody, and authorities have not released further details about the shooting.
“This is an active and ongoing homicide investigation,” the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Loureiro, a theoretical physicist and fusion scientist, had recently been named director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC), one of the university’s largest research labs, with over 250 researchers, staff, and students working across 250,000 square feet of lab space, MIT reported earlier this year.
A native of Portugal, Loureiro joined MIT as a faculty member in 2016 and was appointed deputy director of PSFC in 2022, succeeding Dennis Whyte, who stepped down in 2023 to return to teaching and research.
Police have not disclosed a motive or identified any suspects. The investigation remains active and ongoing.
