A world-renowned MIT nuclear science professor who was murdered in his homemay have been assassinated by an Iranian operative, Israeli officials said.
Married father-of-three Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, was gunned down in the leafy Boston suburb of Brookline at 8.30pm on Monday by an unknown shooter who is still on the loose.
Loureiro specialized in nuclear science, engineering and physics and he had previously spoken out in favor of Israel, a mortal enemy of Iran.
Now, Israeli officials have said Iranian operatives targeted the leading nuclear fusion researcher, according to the Jerusalem Post.
No further information on this theory was given, and it has not been corroborated at this stage by any investigative or law enforcement authorities in the US.
It comes as tensions surrounding Iran's nuclear program reached a boiling point this year.
Israel accused Iran of secretly building its nuclear arsenal in violation of international agreements and leading to President Trump to order strikes on its nuclear facilities in August.
Loureiro was considered one of the world's leading researchers in energy and nuclear physics and was spearheading efforts to develop future technologies.
The 'brilliant' professor was the director of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center, an institution with more than 250 full-time researchers.
Loureiro took on the role last year, amid a storied career at MIT after obtaining degrees at Imperial College London and Princeton.
His murder came two days after the shooting which killed two students at Brown University in Providence, located just 50 miles south of the professor's home.
Though the FBI has said there is no link between the Brown shooting in Rhode Island and Loureiro's death in bordering Massachusetts, both gunmen are still unidentified and on the loose, and many people in the area have expressed feeling unsafe.
No arrests have been made in connection with either shooting.
'This is an active and ongoing homicide investigation,' the Norfolk District Attorney's Office said of Loureiro's death. 'No further information is being released at this time.'
Loureiro's neighbor and friend, Louise Cohen, said she discovered his body after hearing shots disturb the peace of their beautiful area on Gibbs Street.
Cohen said she was lighting a menorah candle when she heard gunshots fired. She rushed to the hallway of their building and found Loureiro lying on his back.
The professor's heartbroken wife was also in the entry along with another neighbor, and they scrambled to dial 911. Loureiro was taken to hospital but died the next day.
'I can't sleep now,' Cohen told the Boston Globe. 'This family is so amazing. I can't imagine anyone wanting to kill him... Should we be afraid now?'
Cohen uses a walking stick and she said Loureiro's family often helps her carry her groceries up the stairs to her unit, which is located directly above theirs.
Another neighbor of Loureiro's, Anne Greenwald, asked people to light candles in his memory on Tuesday evening. She said residents are worried.
'There is too much violence going on,' Greenwald told the Globe. 'This is obviously very close to home.'
Other residents remembered Loureiro as a kind-hearted, 'wonderful man', while students flocked to the candle-lit vigil in his memory.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology paid tribute to him as, 'a lauded theoretical physicist and fusion scientist'.
Loureiro specialized in nuclear science, engineering and physics. He leaves behind 'many devoted students, friends, and colleagues', according to his MIT obituary.
The Brown shootings maybe a signal to embedded terrorist groups to begin targeted assassinations and random attacks on American citizens.
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