DA cautiously optimistic Cambridge shooting victims will make full recovery. Trooper, Marine credited for heroism.
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan is cautiously optimistic the two men wounded in the shooting in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Monday will make a full recovery. A Massachusetts State Police trooper and a Marine veteran are being praised for their selfless bravery in responding to the active shooter situation.
"We saw, when called upon, heroism that in my 30-plus years in law enforcement, represents arguably the most heroic thing I've ever seen," said Massachusetts State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble. "A trooper, and a former veteran, a former Marine, standing in the direct line of fire, standing in front of the active shooter and the citizens that they serve."
Authorities say 46-year-old Tyler Brown opened fire on Memorial Drive with an assault-style rifle, hitting at least a dozen vehicles. The two men who were shot were taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Investigators remain amazed no one was killed, and hopeful the two victims will fully recover.
"It is truly remarkable," Marian Ryan said in an interview with CBS News' Jericka Duncan. "As to one of those individuals, it was really the very quick action of the police in applying tourniquets, and finding that person who had sustained the injury, that hopefully he will make a complete recovery and that will be the cause of that. As to the second, it really is the amazing medical care that's available here in the Boston area."
Videos from witnesses showed the gunman, identified by authorities as Brown, walking down the middle of the busy street firing and waving the rifle at about 1:30 p.m. Ryan said upwards of 60 rounds were fired.
Brown was shot and wounded by the responding Massachusetts State Police trooper and a civilian who is a Marine veteran. Brown was taken into custody and is being treated for gunshot wounds. The Marine and the trooper were not injured, and have not been identified.
"I think what we saw here, certainly from that Marine, who was just somebody who was on the roadway, who quickly, based apparently on his training, realized what was going on and the danger that was being created," Ryan said.
According to the DA, the Marine not only engaged the gunman, but helped get people out of the area by distracting him.
"We certainly have many people who credit him with not only getting a weapon, which he was licensed to carry, and getting out and engaged in the fray," Ryan said. "But then many people who were in the other cars reporting that he was the person knocking on windows, telling them to go, trying to direct them in a way that would not put them on the line of fire."
In 2021, a judge sentenced Brown to five to six years in prison for attempting to shoot and kill Boston Police officers in the South End. He was released from prison in May of 2025. According to court paperwork, Brown was released from a psychiatric hospital just three days before the shooting.
