CAMBRIDGE — Five years was apparently enough.
Tyler Brown, 46 — the man a Suffolk County judge sentenced to just five to six years in state prison after he emptied 13 rounds from a .40 Glock at two Boston police officers in 2020 — was out on parole on Monday afternoon when, prosecutors and police say, he stood in the middle of Memorial Drive in Cambridge and started firing a semi-automatic rifle at passing cars.
A Massachusetts State Police trooper shot him in the torso. He survived. At least one civilian was wounded, and a USPS mail truck and passenger vehicles were struck by gunfire, according to early reporting from Boston 25 and WHDH. The full scope of casualties was still being tallied late Monday.
A man identified by police as Tyler Brown, 46, running across Memorial Drive in Cambridge Monday afternoon carrying a long gun. Image: bystander video, via news broadcast (editorial fair use).
The man Boston police could not get to in time was, hours earlier, on a wellness-check list.
The 2020 case Suffolk DA called too lenient
In May 2020, Brown fired 13 rounds from a .40 caliber Glock at two Boston police officers responding to a "man with a gun" call near Massachusetts Avenue and Chester Park in the South End. The officers returned five rounds total. Nobody — civilians, officers, or Brown — was hit.
According to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Kettlewell recommended 10 to 12 years in state prison plus five years of probation at the 2021 sentencing.
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Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders instead handed Brown five to six years, plus three years of probation and a mental health evaluation.
That was August 19, 2021. Less than five years later, Brown was back on the street — and back behind a gun.
How Monday unfolded
Around 12:30 p.m. Monday, Boston Police officers went to Brown's Dorchester address. His parole officer had reported earlier that day that Brown made a suicidal statement, and an officer-safety bulletin had gone out. He wasn't home.
Roughly an hour later, witnesses on Memorial Drive — the DCR-administered roadway running along the Charles River through Cambridge — described a man in a dark hoodie and beanie raising a long gun and firing at random vehicles near the River Street intersection, by the Mobil and Shell gas stations.
"A guy holding a rifle, a semi-automatic rifle… I ran. He just started shooting out of nowhere," a Mobil station worker told Boston 25.
Witnesses reported hearing 15 to 30 rounds during the exchange of fire before a state trooper struck Brown. Brown was transported to a hospital under guard.
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Governor Maura Healey said in a statement: "There is no ongoing threat to the public. However, residents and commuters are strongly encouraged to avoid the area to allow public safety personnel to do their work. Grateful to first responders who worked quickly to keep people safe and secure the scene."
Cambridge Police Sgt. Bob Reardon told Cambridge Day the city has officers and detectives on scene "assisting state police in their investigation."
The same gun-pointing posture, four years apart
In 2020 it was two Boston Police officers as Brown fired three times the rounds they returned. On Monday it was a USPS mail truck and Cambridge drivers — civilians who had nothing in common with Brown except that they happened to be on Memorial Drive at 1:30 in the afternoon.
In the four-year gap is one Suffolk Superior Court sentencing decision: 10-to-12 years recommended by the prosecutor, five-to-six handed down by the bench.
No charges had been filed in the Cambridge case as of Monday evening. Brown remains hospitalized.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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