Massachusetts Parole Board released Tyler Brown early, Shooter accused in Cambridge
Tyler Brown was released from MCI-Shirley in May 2025 under parole supervision and later became the subject of a Cambridge shooter case after police accused him of firing at vehicles on Memorial Drive Monday afternoon. Two people were shot and suffered life-threatening injuries.
The release came after Brown had been convicted in 2020 of shooting at Boston police officers, then sentenced in 2021 to serve 5-6 years in state prison. The Massachusetts Parole Board said he was remorseful, had completed Violence Reduction, Criminal Thinking and a Bachelors Program at Tufts University, and was subject to electronic monitoring for the first 90 days along with counseling for PTSD, anxiety and depression.
Brown's parole terms
In its decision last year, the board wrote, "Subject has completed Violence Reduction, Criminal Thinking and in Bachelors Program at Tufts University" and "Subject suffers from MH disorder w/ PTSD, Depression and Anxiety and taking medications on a daily basis". It also said, "Subject was smoking THC while in community as a tool to increase his appetite. Subject is remorseful about the part he played in the offense."
Those conditions did not end the sentence. They shifted supervision from prison to parole after Brown left MCI-Shirley in May 2025, a step that now sits at the center of the Cambridge case.
Memorial Drive shooting
Brown is accused of shooting at vehicles on Memorial Drive in Cambridge on Monday afternoon, leaving two people with life-threatening injuries. Massachusetts State Police Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble called the response "an incredible act of bravery to stop an active shooter in Cambridge" and said, "We saw when called upon, heroism, that in my 30-plus years in law enforcement, represents arguably the most heroic thing I have ever seen. A trooper and a veteran, a former Marine, standing in the direct line of fire, standing in front of the active shooter and the citizens that they serve."
Brian Shortsleeve, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, attacked the parole decision on Tuesday, saying, "This outrageous act of violence was entirely preventable and the result of a Parole Board and governor who treat criminals like victims and victims like afterthoughts." He added, "When I’m Governor, every member of the Parole Board will be fired" and "Maura Healey has no right playing politics with our lives on the line."
Shortsleeve response
The case now joins Brown's 2020 conviction, his 2021 prison sentence, and the Parole Board's May 2025 release decision in one timeline. The shooting on Memorial Drive has turned the earlier supervision decision into a public question about who reviewed Brown's record and what that review allowed him to do next.
