Whistleblower Claims FBI Delayed Response to Brown University Mass Shooting

Agents had to drive through a snowstorm after FBI Director Kash Patel took a jet to Florida, whistleblower says

Published on Feb. 24, 2026

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A whistleblower has alleged that the FBI's elite evidence response team was delayed in reaching the scene of the Brown University mass shooting because FBI Director Kash Patel had taken one of the agency's two available jets to Florida and placed a hold on the other jet, forcing the team to drive through a snowstorm to get to Providence, Rhode Island.

Why it matters

The whistleblower's claims, if true, raise serious concerns about potential misuse of government resources and the impact on the FBI's ability to respond effectively to critical incidents like mass shootings.

The details

According to the whistleblower and three other sources cited by MS Now, Patel was in South Florida with one of the FBI's two available jets at the time of the Brown University shooting, and he had also placed a hold on the other jet, preventing the evidence response team from flying to the scene. As a result, the team had to drive through a snowstorm overnight to reach the university by 9 a.m. the next morning.

  • The Brown University mass shooting occurred on the afternoon of December 13.
  • Five days after the shooting, the suspected gunman, Claudio Neves Valente, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a Salem, New Hampshire storage unit.

The players

Kash Patel

The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Claudio Neves Valente

A 48-year-old former Brown University student and Portuguese national living in Miami, who was identified as the shooter in the Brown University mass shooting and was also linked to the shooting death of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.

Richard Durbin

A Democratic U.S. Senator from Illinois who provided information from the whistleblower in a letter to the Government Accountability Office.

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What they’re saying

“Since his confirmation as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Kash Patel has seemingly engaged in what amounts to irresponsible joyriding on DOJ and FBI-operated aircraft at the expense of the American taxpayer and to the detriment of ongoing Bureau operations.”

— Richard Durbin, U.S. Senator (Senator Durbin's office)

What’s next

Sen. Durbin has requested that the Government Accountability Office's ongoing review address the new information from the whistleblower, and that the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General investigate Director Patel's alleged misuse or mismanagement of government resources.

The takeaway

The whistleblower's claims, if true, raise serious concerns about potential abuse of power and misuse of government resources by the FBI Director, which could have had a detrimental impact on the agency's ability to respond effectively to a critical incident like the Brown University mass shooting.