A gunman in emotional crisis left two people with life-threatening injuries Monday as he roved Memorial Drive in Cambridge with a rifle, opening fire even as police neared in hopes of preventing the violence from starting.
Cambridge police were called with a warning from Boston police at around 1:09 p.m., acting police commissioner Pauline Wells told city councillors. She quoted from materials heard at a press conference with the Middlesex District Attorney after the day’s violence.
Police were told a suspect with a criminal record, on parole and tracked by an attached device “may be in the city and had been acting erratically,” Well said. The warning included the fact he was “in possession of a rifle.”
As state and Cambridge police arrived at around 1:30 p.m. to 808 Memorial Drive near River Street at the Rivermark Apartments, where the suspect’s device was pinging, “an active-shooter situation was underway with the suspect on foot walking east on the roadway, in the middle of the roadway,” Wells said. A widely viewed video shows the man holding an assault-style rifle, “actively firing in an erratic fashion at vehicles.”
Two men inside their cars on Memorial Drive were shot being the shooter was confronted by police and an ex-Marine who happened to be on the scene with a legal firearm. The shooter got off some 60 rounds as “both the civilian and the trooper fired their weapons and the suspect was struck multiple times,” Wells said.
The man was treated on scene and taken to a Boston hospital where he has gunshot wounds to his extremities, Wells said. The suspect as Tyler Brown, 46, whom Boston went to check on earlier Monday because of a tip from Brown’s parole officer. When they found his home empty, an alert went out with Brown’s photo.
His victims – apparently chosen at random – were also taken to Boston hospitals to be treated for life-threatening injuries. “We don’t believe they were involved. They were just random shots fired,” Wells said.
Police also got a report from CHA Cambridge Hospital of a man who had been grazed by a bullet and drove himself to be treated.
“This was a very dangerous situation,” Wells said. “This incident occurred during a busy part of the afternoon where innocent people were driving their vehicles, walking, biking and rowing in the river. The alleged actions of the shooter in this case put many lives at risk and very seriously injured two innocent people … assault-style rifle rounds can actually cross the river and do damage. They can go through things. They can go through people. They can cause a lot of damage. I still can’t believe that more people were not hurt in this incident.”
The video shared from TikTok:
Councillors applauded the work of the first responders who were in danger. Councillor Tim Flaherty called it “maybe the most unsettling incident that I can recall in my entire life, some 60 years living in the city.”
Other councillors wanted to know where the shooter got the rifle. Middlesex DA Marian Ryan started her press conference by playing audio of the gun battle and reminded everyone gathered to keep that in mind as she spoke and took questions.
Wells was equally solemn during her own report – her first major incident leading the police force since the abrupt departure of Christine Elow as commissioner April 16. The Boston Globe said Elow faced “an ongoing investigation” in March that ended with her resigning less than halfway through a four-year contract and with $309,000 in severance pay.
About The Author
