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Notes -
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor and Nuclear Physicist, Nuno Loureiro, was shot to death last night in his own home. Loureiro was reportedly Jewish and somewhat vocally pro-Israel. No suspect is in custody. I cannot help but think that this might be related to the shooting at Brown University last week. My knowledge of the geography of the northeast United States is limited, but I believe the two locations are at most a couple of hours apart. The shooting at Brown seems to have targeted the class of a professor of Israel-US relations.
I think we are are now approaching five left wing domestic terrorist attacks in as many months. When I suggested we were on the verge of slipping into another Days of Rage after the Israeli embassy attack, everyone here pooh-poohed the idea. But my concerns have only deepened since.
Some details:
He was killed at 9 Gibbs street, Brookline. I lived within walking distance of this neighborhood. It's exceedingly safe. There are no murders in Brookline. In fact, there was 1 homicide in Brookline in the last 20 years (2006 - Dec 2025), and that was a drug deal gone wrong.
He was killed in the Foyer of his apartment building. Burglars generally prefer single family homes, and and there are many in this neighborhood. Already sus. Next, if it was a break-in, his body would have been inside the house. Why would someone come all the way up to his foyer (inside the building), and then kill him outside the apartment ? Does not sound like a professional criminal.
Pro-Israel, Hanukah and Brown University timing only makes it worse.
I'm not a hit man or thug, but to me it seems like a decent place to assassinate someone or otherwise attack them. In the foyer of a multi-unit building, you can be alone with someone without them necessarily getting suspicious or alarmed. And typically the person has to pause to unlock the inner door, leaving them both stationary and distracted.
The only problem is that most multi-unit buildings require a key, and guests have to be buzzed in. They're also likely to be under video surveillance.
Is that an actual barrier, or a polite fiction? I've definitely seen people follow others into apartment buildings, or enter as people are leaving, or bypass the lock in other ways. I don't think it's a substantial barrier on the scale of an assassination.
Depends on the building. If it's a large building with a transient population, you can walk in behind someone and act like you live there and they won't question it. But it looks like this was a small building, and if a professor lives there there's a greater chance that it's the kind of place people stay a while. From the pictures it looks like there are maybe four apartments per entrance. In a building like this, it's probable that everyone knows their neighbors, which makes surrepetitiously entering much more difficult.
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