On the phone with his parole officer around noon Monday, Brown said he “had relapsed and was ready to end his life,” police later wrote in an arrest report. “He had a drug screen test scheduled that day.”
When officers arrived at the home on Mora Street in Dorchester around 12:30 p.m. and discovered Brown wasn’t there, they pinged his phone, tracking it to Cambridge, according to dispatch records.
An internal bulletin distributed within the Boston Police Department warned Brown was “in possession of an assault rifle and stated that he intended to use it.” The memo also referenced the 2020 incident when he opened fire on responding law enforcement officers.
Officers were exchanging radio dispatches about Brown when they received the first reports of gunfire on Memorial Drive around 1:30 p.m. Callers described a man with an assault-style rifle firing indiscriminately at cars on Memorial Drive in Cambridge.
“Shots fired! Shots fired!” a State Police trooper yelled, according to radio transmissions from Broadcastify. Within seconds came another report: “Suspect’s down, shots fired, suspect’s down.”
A memo released by Boston police about the dangerousness of Memorial Drive shooting suspect Tyler Brown.Boston Regional Intelligence Center
Brown, 46, was taken into custody after being wounded when a state trooper and an armed civilian returned fire. The civilian, a former Marine, has not been publicly identified. Two people were severely injured in the attack, which unfolded near the River Street Bridge, with at least 50 to 60 rounds of ammunition fired.
On Tuesday, Casimir Bangoura was identified by his uncle as one of the victims. He had been heading to a local car wash when he was struck by a barrage of bullets, causing him to lose control of his vehicle, said his uncle, Soufiana Yombuno.
“Thank God,” Yombuno said, “He’s alive.”
It was a horrific scene — and an outcome the criminal justice system had been warned about.
Brown has a long criminal history in the Boston area, including the 2020 police shooting. He later took a plea deal and received a sentence well below what prosecutors had requested. Even the judge who sentenced Brown in August 2021 acknowledged she was “taking on risk here” with the lesser sentence.
And in the immediate aftermath of the Cambridge shooting, critics slammed the decision in his earlier case.
“The sentence should fit the crime and the perpetrator should be held responsible,” Larry Calderone, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, said in a phone interview Tuesday morning. “At the end of the day, if a person has such disregard for life that they would shoot at a police officer, imagine what they would do to the common citizen. That’s what we saw yesterday on Memorial Drive.”
Calderone questioned the decisions of both prosecutors and the judge in that case, saying Brown had a history of violence and mental health challenges that clearly made him a serious risk to public safety.
“This guy should not have been out walking the streets,” he added. “It’s not fair to society and innocent people.”
About an hour before the shooting, Brown called his parole officer on FaceTime. He was “waving around a semi-automatic rifle,” according to the police report. Among other statements, he told the officer: “I’m not going back to prison,” police wrote.
Brown had just been discharged from McLean Hospital, a psychiatric facility, according to a police report. He was previously diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression, the report says. Police also noted a history of cocaine use. Court records list gun and drug convictions dated to at least 2008.
In 2014, Brown was arrested for allegedly stabbing two people. He chased a group of victims through the South End, brandishing a knife, according to police.
After the stabbing arrest, records show Brown underwent psychiatric evaluations at Bridgewater State Hospital. He was ultimately deemed mentally competent to stand trial and sent back to jail. Court officials directed jail staff to evaluate him for “suicidal ideation.”
Brown later pleaded guilty to assault and battery and was sentenced to six years in prison, with credit for more than two years time served.
A few months after his release in January 2020, he shot at Boston police officers in the South End; they were responding to reports of a man threatening people with a gun. No officers were injured.
He pleaded guilty the following year to eight charges. Prosecutors asked for at least 10 years behind bars, but Brown received a maximum of six years, with credit for about 18 months time served.
Law enforcement officials expressed public outrage at the time, including Boston police leadership and then-Suffolk district attorney Rachael Rollins.
During a sentencing hearing in the case, Boston police officer Edward Gately III implored the court to keep Brown incarcerated long term, calling him “a very dangerous individual who doesn’t care who he hurts.”
“I am a firm believer that when Mr. Tyler Brown gets out, he will hurt or … kill someone,” Gately said, according to a copy of his victim impact statement. He noted Brown was on probation for the earlier stabbing case when he shot at the officers.
However, Judge Janet L. Sanders said she was considering a number of factors before announcing her decision, according to an audio recording of the hearing obtained by the Globe.
First, there was a consequential change to Brown’s criminal record after prosecutors moved to vacate a 2009 conviction for cocaine distribution. Brown was among the thousands of defendants whose cases were compromised in the state drug lab scandal involving Annie Dookhan, a former state chemist who admitted to tampering with samples.
Without that conviction on his record, Brown was not eligible to have an enhancement to his sentence for armed career criminals; he also no longer qualified for a mandatory 10-year sentence, prosecutors said.
Speaking from the bench at the sentencing in August, 2021, Sanders told Brown she was taking a chance on him, especially since he admitted to shooting at police officers. She also acknowledged the emotional plea from Gately, the police officer.
But, Sanders said, a large majority of criminal defendants have terrible childhoods during which they experienced abuse — as did Brown. Many also have psychiatric issues, the judge said.
She listed letters of support Brown had received, including from the then-Mayor’s Office of Returning Citizens, which helps formerly incarcerated people. She said that despite being incarcerated for much of his adult life, Brown still forged a strong relationship with his two children. He had reached out for mental health treatment just days before the May 2020 shooting, when help was scarce because of the pandemic.
“I can’t look into a crystal ball and figure out what’s going to happen once you get out,” Sanders said. “But I do understand that I am taking on risk here. And I just pray that … my intuitions are right and that you have the ability, the smarts, the will, the support — not to go out there and endanger other people like you have in the past.”
Attempts to reach Sanders for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Brown served his sentence and was released on parole in March 2025. The state Parole Board found he was “remorseful about the part he played in the offense.” He was ordered to abide by certain conditions, including mental health treatment and drug testing.
The two people wounded Monday remained hospitalized Tuesday with life-threatening injuries, officials said. Authorities did not release their identities.
Brown also remained hospitalized with gunshot wounds. He faces two counts of armed assault with intent to murder and firearms offenses.
His arraignment date in the Cambridge case hasn’t been set.
In a statement Tuesday, Governor Maura Healey praised Massachusetts first responders, noting the shooting came just days after a state trooper was killed last week by a wrong-way driver.
“In the middle of a terrifying and chaotic situation on Memorial Drive, troopers and emergency personnel ran toward danger to protect innocent people, secure the scene and prevent further violence,” she said. “Their quick actions and professionalism undoubtedly saved lives.”
Healey also thanked the former Marine who intervened amid the chaos. A woman who was stuck in her car credited him with saving her life, describing how he helped her escape danger.
“He is an incredible hero,” Rachael Saveriano said in a phone interview Tuesday. “He was so calm and he didn’t hesitate.”
Talk about a ball drop. The fact that the judicial system thought it 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. https://t.co/QvxyROBYmC
— Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association (BPPA) (@BostonPatrolmen) May 12, 2026
Globe staff reporters Shannon Larson, Bryan Hecht, Jeremiah Manion, Nick Stoico, and Chris Van Buskirk of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent Hannah Goeke contributed to this report.
Lea Skene can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @lea_skene. Travis Andersen can be reached at [email protected]. John R. Ellement can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @JREbosglobe.
