Two people were shot by a gunman Monday afternoon as he walked down the middle of Memorial Drive firing off between 50 and 60 rounds with an assault-style rifle.
The two victims suffered “life-threatening” injuries and were in Boston hospitals, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.
In a press conference Monday evening, Ryan described the chain of events that led to the shooting and to the eventual arrest of Tyler Brown, a man who Ryan said was in the process of moving to Boston and was on either parole or probation.
At 1:06 p.m. Monday, Cambridge police received a call from Boston police reporting a person acting “erratically,” Ryan said, and who was suspected of carrying a gun. Both Cambridge police and Massachusetts State Police responded, and found the man firing amid traffic in the area of Memorial Drive near the intersection of River Street.
Two people inside vehicles, one of them a driver for the MBTA service The Ride, were struck, said Ryan. Meanwhile, drivers in other cars scattered amid the shooting, and some even hid under their own vehicles to avoid being hit. “She noted that at least a dozen vehicles were struck by gunfire.”
A Massachusetts State Police officer and a civilian — a former Marine licensed to carry a gun — ran toward the suspect and shot him several times. Ryan declined to identify either the officer or the civilian.
“The cruiser from which that trooper stepped was itself struck in the front post by a bullet from that gun,” said Ryan. “Both that trooper and that civilian, rather than going in one direction, went towards the suspect with their weapons to try to end that situation.”
The officer and the civilian both shot the suspect “several times” said Ryan, and struck him in the extremities. He then collapsed, and officers and an EMS worker who was called to the scene immediately provided medical attention to the suspect, according to Ryan. He is now being treated in a Boston hospital.
Ryan said Brown will be charged with two counts of armed assault with intent to murder, as well as weapons charges and “a variety of other charges.”
Ryan emphasized that the shooting happened at a busy time in a busy area, with hundreds of people watching the events unfold.
“That does not begin to address the trauma experienced by everybody who is out there, those individuals on the river, walking, pushing baby carriages, riding by,” she said. “We know that that weapon had the capacity to have struck people on the other side of that river.”
Memorial Drive near River Street was shut down all Monday afternoon after the shooting, and police asked the public to avoid the area.
Ryan asked anyone in the area of the shooting who has video footage to contact Massachusetts State Police to turn it over.
At the press conference, Massachusetts State Police Superintendent Geoffrey Noble thanked officers who came to the scene.
“I just want to take a moment and commend the incredible bravery that we saw today from the responding law enforcement officers,” said Noble. “In a moment of crisis, we saw highly trained, highly prepared troopers and police officers responding to a very dangerous incident. I want to thank them for their service.”
