After a gunman opened fire in heavy traffic in the middle of Memorial Drive in Cambridge Monday, sending motorists running for cover and wounding two drivers, much is being discovered about the alleged shooter. Here’s what we know:
The suspect was armed with an high-powered rifle
Tyler Brown, 46, of Dorchester, was allegedly armed with a gun identified as a multi-caliber BCI-Defense Model FF-1, according to a State Police report. A former Marine who shot Brown at the scene told investigators he initially thought the gun looked like an AK-47, while one gun control reform advocacy group said the gun was “an AR-15-style assault weapon.”
He was on parole for shooting at Boston police
Brown was released on parole last year for a shooting involving four Boston police officers in 2020. He was reportedly suicidal in the hours leading up to the Memorial Drive shooting. Brown was released from a psychiatric hospital Friday and was reportedly using crack cocaine, court filings show.
His parole officer requested a well-being check
A parole officer called 911 Monday and requested a well-being check on Brown at his home in Dorchester.
Brown spoke with his parole officer around noon Monday, saying he “had relapsed and was ready to end his life,” police wrote in an arrest report. “He had a drug screen test scheduled that day,” the report said.
Brown wasn’t home when officers arrived to check on him. They pinged his phone and tracked him to Cambridge.
Boston police issued a bulletin, alerted Cambridge police
The Boston Police Department issued an internal bulletin warned that Brown was “in possession of an assault rifle and stated that he intended to use it.” The memo also referenced the 2020 incident when Brown 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.
Brown was taken into custody with gunshot injuries after a state trooper and an armed civilian intervened.
Suspect has a lengthy criminal history
Brown has a long criminal history in the Boston area. He had been released from prison, after serving time for stabbing two people in 2014, just four months before the May 2020 shooting in the South End.
Brown took a plea deal in the shooting case and received a six-year sentence, well below what prosecutors had requested, despite a Boston police officer testifying that he was certain Brown would eventually “hurt or ... kill someone.”
Judge spoke of ‘risk’ releasing Brown
The judge, Janet L. Sanders, who sentenced Brown acknowledged she was taking a “risk” with the lesser sentence.
At the sentencing hearing in August 2021, Boston police officer Edward Gately III delivered an emotional victim impact statement and implored Sanders to give Brown the maximum sentence of 10 to 12 years.
Gateley told Sanders he considered Brown “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 recording of his testimony.
Sanders said she would rely on her intuition in fashioning Brown’s sentence.
“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.”
Brown served his sentence and was released on parole on May 21 last year.
Parole Board found him ‘remorseful’
The state Parole Board found that Brown was “remorseful about the part he played in the offense.” He was ordered to attend classes at Tufts University, attend mental-health counseling, take his medications, and undergo testing for alcohol and illegal drugs, the parole board ruled.
Less than a year later, Brown is now facing two counts of armed assault with intent to murder and firearms offenses for Monday’s shooting. His arraignment date has not been scheduled yet.
Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.