BOSTON (AP) — A man previously convicted of shooting at police strode down a busy road outside Boston, firing an assault-style rifle at passing cars, shooting two drivers and sending others scrambling until he was wounded when a state trooper and a former Marine opened fire, authorities said.
As bullets tore through at least a dozen cars, including a state police cruiser, panicked motorists abandoned their vehicles or hid under them for cover, according to prosecutors and state police. Authorities said the gunman fired more than 60 rounds during the Monday afternoon attack in which two victims suffered life-threatening injuries.
The shooting happened on a heavily traveled road along the Charles River in Cambridge, home to Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sidewalks and riverside paths in the area are often crowded with pedestrians, joggers and cyclists.
“While people were jumping from their cars, scattering in various directions … both that trooper and that civilian, rather than going in one direction, went toward the suspect with their weapons to try to end that situation,” Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said at a news conference Monday night.
The suspect, identified by prosecutors as 46-year-old Tyler Brown of Boston, was shot multiple times in the extremities and is expected to face charges including two counts of armed assault with intent to murder and other gun offenses.
“What happened today cannot stand,” the district attorney said.
In 2020, Brown was arrested after firing several rounds at Boston police officers, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office. Prosecutors at the time said he should serve at least 10 years in prison, due to the “level of brazen violence” and because he was on probation for a 2014 conviction on assault and witness intimidation charges. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders instead ordered Brown to serve five to six years in state prison and three years of probation with credit for the nearly 18 months he’d spent in custody.
At the time, the judge’s decision sparked outrage and criticism among local officials concerned that violent offenders weren’t being held accountable. Those same concerns returned after Monday’s shooting.
“Talk about a ball drop,” said the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association in a statement posted on social media. “The fact that the judicial system thought it was prudent to show leniency to a wannabe cop killer 5-years ago is not only the definition of insanity but an undeniable insult to those who put their lives on the line everyday.”
Rachael Saveriano said she was trapped in her car Monday as other vehicles tried to make U-turns in front of her when she saw Brown walking toward her, waving his gun. The man authorities later identified as a former Marine helped her escape, she told The Boston Globe.
“I didn’t know what to do. It doesn’t feel like you should get out of the car when there is a shooter coming toward you, but there was a man next to me,” she said. “He opened my car door, pulled me out, and told me to run. He made a barricade with the door and I just started running.”
Saveriano said she saw the man shooting at Brown before she ran into a nearby hotel.
“He is an incredible hero,” she said. “He was so calm, and he didn’t hesitate.”
Ryan said investigators found no connection between Brown and the people targeted in the shooting. She renewed her call for harsher penalties on people who fire weapons without regard for the risk of serious injury.
Brown was not medically ready to go to court for an arraignment, the Cambridge District Court said Tuesday. The Committee for Public Counsel Services has been appointed to defend him, and a message seeking comment was left with the agency on Tuesday. A message was also left at a phone number listed for Brown and a potential family member, while another possible relative said they didn't know him.
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