Repeat offender pleaded guilty in 2021 to firing at cops — but judge issued light sentence. Now he's accused in new shooting.

A repeat offender who's accused of seriously wounding two in a brazen daytime shooting Monday in Cambridge, Massachusetts, seemed headed for a long stretch in prison after he pleaded guilty in 2021 to firing at police officers in Boston.

You see, prosecutors wanted Tyler E. Brown to serve at least 10 years in prison for shooting at cops the year before, the Boston Globe reported.

'I am a firm believer that when Mr. Tyler Brown gets out, he will hurt, or worse, kill someone.'

However, the paper said Judge Janet L. Sanders imposed a sentence of five to six years in state prison, with credit for about 18 months he’d spent in custody while the case was pending.

After just a few years behind bars, Brown was released back into the community, WFXT-TV reported.

Brown on Monday allegedly shot two people with a rifle on a Cambridge street not far from Harvard and MIT, the Globe said. The victims remained hospitalized Tuesday with life-threatening injuries, officials told the paper.

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Brown was shot by a state trooper and an armed civilian, the Globe said, and remained at an area hospital.

Officials on Monday said Brown is expected to face two counts of armed assault with intent to murder and firearms offenses, the paper reported.

Forget how angry officials likely are over Monday's shooting given that Brown might otherwise have been behind bars. Law enforcement was outraged back in 2021 over Brown's lighter sentence — records show he was already on probation for a stabbing and witness intimidation at the time, WFXT noted.

One officer even predicted Brown would return to violence once he was released.

"I am a firm believer that when Mr. Tyler Brown gets out, he will hurt, or worse, kill someone," one officer involved in the 2020 shooting wrote in an impact statement, according to WCVB-TV. "Probation apparently means nothing to Mr. Tyler Brown, nor does the value of life."

Gregory Long, the department’s superintendent in chief at the time, said in a statement after Brown's August 2021 sentence that "the Boston Police Department is extremely disappointed in this sentence," the Globe reported.

Long, according to the paper, added that "this sentence does not reflect the magnitude and seriousness of the offense committed by this individual. Acts of violence such as this in our city streets require and demand adequate accountability."

Even George Soros-backed Rachael Rollins — the Suffolk district attorney at the time — wasn't happy with the judge's sentence.

"My office recommended a significant sentence for Mr. Brown given the nature of his offenses and the trauma and harm he inflicted," Rollins said, according to the Globe. "I am disappointed in the sentence that was imposed."

As Blaze News previously reported, Rollins in 2023 announced plans to resign as Massachusetts U.S. attorney after she was accused of leaking "sensitive DOJ" information to the press in an effort to influence an election in favor of a fellow Democratic colleague.

More from the Globe:

Brown, now 46, had only been out of jail a few months on May 16, 2020, when he opened fire at several officers who had responded to a report of a man with a gun who was threatening people on Northampton Street in the South End. He was arrested after he fled to Massachusetts Avenue, where he shot at officers who returned fire, the Globe reported.

He pleaded guilty the following year to eight charges, including armed assault with intent to murder, attempted assault and battery by means of discharging a firearm for firing at a Boston police officer, and three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon for pointing a firearm at additional responding Boston police officers, officials said.

Prosecutors said they had sought a sentence of 10 to 12 years, followed by five years of probation. At the time of the shooting, Brown was on probation for a 2014 conviction for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a knife, and witness intimidation, records show.

In relation to Monday afternoon's shooting, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan told WFXT in a separate story that an active shooter situation was under way when officers arrived at the scene in Cambridge, noting that the suspect "was already traveling down the middle of Memorial Drive, cars were stopped in traffic, ... and he was actively firing in an erratic fashion at various vehicles along the road."

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Two victims in separate vehicles were struck by gunfire, including a municipal bus driver who reportedly drove himself to the hospital after he was shot in the head, WFXT said.

Authorities added that a state police trooper — as well as a civilian described as a former Marine licensed to carry a firearm — moved toward the suspect while shots were being fired, WFXT said.

Officials said the suspect was struck multiple times in the lower extremities and treated at the scene, WFXT added.

Ryan noted that motorists abandoned their vehicles and ran in multiple directions as the shooting unfolded, WFXT reported, adding that some people reportedly took cover underneath their cars.

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