BOSTON (WHDH) - The man who police say terrorized people along Memorial Drive in Cambridge has a record dating back to 2008.
At that time, Tyler Brown was charged with distributing cocaine near an elementary school in Boston. He pleaded guilty, but the case was later vacated.
In 2014, he was indicted on several assault and battery charges, as well as witness intimidation.
During the case, the medical director at Bridgewater State Hospital diagnosed brown with depression and declared him mentally ill. He was sentenced to four to five years on the assault charges.
By 2020, he was out of prison. In May of that year, it was a scene similar to the one in Cambridge.
Boston police say brown fired 13 rounds at officers who responded to a call for a man with a gun on a busy street.
Officers say they found brown on Mass Ave., appearing ‘emotionally disturbed’ and walking around with an unlicensed semi-automatic pistol. In that case, no one was hurt.
Brown eventually pleaded guilty to eight charges – including assault to murder. The district attorney’s office recommended a 10-12-year sentence, but Brown was sentenced to six years. Law enforcement agencies criticized that sentence.
“It’s predictable when you have someone who shot at police officers just a few years ago and gets a light sentence, it is very likely he is going to do it again and graduate to the next level, which he did, so that was preventable,” Frank Frederickson, Massachusetts Fraternal Order of Police.
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