The tragic shooting of MIT professor Nuno Loureiro in his Boston-area apartment building has left the local community in shock. Residents of the Brookline neighborhood, where the incident occurred, expressed disbelief and concern over the mysterious nature of the killing.

The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office reported that Loureiro was shot at the entrance of his Brookline apartment on Monday night. Despite being rushed to a nearby hospital, he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead on Tuesday morning.

In the wake of this tragedy, neighbors gathered outside the three-story apartment building to honor Loureiro’s memory and voice their unease about the violent event that shattered the peace of their typically serene area.

“It’s unsettling to live in Brookline right now,” local resident Lloyd Rosenthal shared with Boston 25 News. “This place is supposed to be safe, but there’s a silence hanging over us.”

MIT Professor Nuno Loureiro, who was killed at his home on Tuesday, Dec. 16. (Jake Belcher)

The Brookline Police Department and Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office are investigating Loureiro’s death, the Massachusetts State Police said in a statement to Fox News Digital. However, no suspects have been named. 

“I heard three loud bangs,” an unnamed neighbor told Boston 25 News. “I thought at first it was somebody in our apartment kicking in the door or something.”

“I don’t know what happened or why it happened,” neighbor Anne Greenwald told the outlet. “It’s very scary, though. We’re living in such terrible times right now that it seems like violence is just happening everywhere.”

Eurydice Hirsey, another Brookliner, told Fox News Digital she met Loureiro through his wife, Ines, and that the couple shares three children ranging in age from elementary school to college. 

“We take [dance] classes together several times a week,” she said. “I just saw her last night.”

“It’s a family that’s feeling such raw horror… terror,” said Hirsey. “And what do you do with something that’s indescribable?”

Locals gathered in Brookline, Massachusetts, on Tuesday night to mourn the loss of MIT professor Numo Louriero, who was murdered in his apartment on Monday. (Andrea Margolis/Fox News Digital)

Hirsey’s husband added that the “only answer to terrorism is a strong civil society.”

“And in the meantime, we face a lot of hate and suffering,” he said. 

The renowned professor joined MIT in 2016 and was appointed to the helm of the school’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center last year, where he aimed to research and expand clean energy technology, according to The Associated Press. The center stands as one of the school’s largest laboratories and had over 250 employees when Loureiro was selected as its leader, the school’s website stated. 

A crowd of people holding candles gather outside the home of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro in Brookline, Mass., Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025.  (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Ted Docks, special agent in charge of FBI Boston, said investigators have found no connection between Loureiro’s death and the shooting at Brown University – located about 50 miles away – that left two students dead and nine injured over the weekend.

MIT Professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro and Rafael M. Grossi. (rafaelmgrossi via X)

Loureiro was an accomplished researcher and leaves behind his wife and three children. He studied physics at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2000, and later went on to earn a doctorate in physics at Imperial College London, U.K., in 2005. 

Loureiro later completed postdoctoral work at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory from 2005 to 2007, and at the UKAEA Culham Centre for Fusion Energy from 2007 to 2009. Before joining MIT in 2016, Loureiro held a research position at the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion at IST Lisbon. 

The Brookline Police Department, Norfolk District Attorney’s Office and Massachusetts State Police did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

“Our deepest sympathies are with his family, students, colleagues, and all those who are grieving,” MIT spokesperson Kimberly Allen wrote in a statement to Fox News. “Focused outreach and conversations are taking place within our community to offer care and support for those who knew Prof. Loureiro, and a message will be shared with our wider community.”

In a statement posted to social media, U.S. Ambassador to Portugal John J. Arrigo added, “I extend my deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Nuno Loureiro, who led MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. We honor his life, his leadership in science, and his enduring contributions.”