Shooting near Harvard University leaves 2 with life-threatening injuries, suspect ID’d
Massachusetts State Police said at least one person was left wounded after a gunman began shooting into traffic in Cambridge on Monday afternoon. (ABC News)
(CAMBRIDGE, Mass.) — Two people were shot and left with life-threatening injuries after a gunman began shooting into traffic in Cambridge on Monday afternoon near Harvard University, according to officials.
Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said during a press briefing after the incident that a gunman with an assault-style rifle was “actively firing in an erratic fashion at various vehicles.”
The shooting occurred in the vicinity of Memorial Drive and River Street before 1:30 p.m.
A trooper and a civilian, a former Marine, fired their weapons and struck the gunman, who was later identified as Tyler Brown, multiple times, according to the DA. Brown is under arrest and is hospitalized, Ryan said.
Brown is now facing six new felony charges, including two for assault with intent to murder.
He was under probation supervision for a previous crime, according to the DA.
Brown was sentenced to five to six years in state prison and three years of probation in August 2021 after he fired at Boston Police. Brown pleaded guilty to eight charges, including armed assault with intent to murder and attempted assault and battery by means of discharging a firearm, according to a 2021 statement from the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office.
Brown was also previously required to undergo a mental health evaluation and treatment, according to the DA’s office.
Brown was also on probation at the time of the 2021 incident for a 2014 assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (knife) and witness intimidation conviction, according to the DA’s office. He was sentenced to four to five years in state prison for violating his probation to be served concurrently.
The DA’s office had recommended Brown be sentenced 10 to 12 years, criticizing the lower sentence.
“My office recommended a significant sentence for Mr. Brown given the nature of his offenses and the trauma andharm he inflicted. I am disappointed in the sentence that was imposed,” then-District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a 2021 statement.
The two people who were struck by gunfire were in their vehicles at the time.
Aerial footage from ABC News’ Boston affiliate WCVB showed the gunman being apprehended by police at the scene.
WCVB footage also showed a black Dodge sedan off the side of the road after an apparent crash.
A rifle was seen on the grass in the area, according to WCVB.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said in a statement that there is no ongoing threat to the public, but asked that residents “avoid the area to allow public safety personnel to do their work.”
Lisa Schill, a witness to the shooting, told WCVB she was in a school van on the way to pick up kids at school. She said she left the van and began running from the incident on foot.
“I was running for my life,” Schill told the publication.
Illustration of Legionella pneumophila bacteria, the cause of Legionnaires’ disease. ( ROGER HARRIS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A fourth person has died in New York City amid an ongoing cluster of Legionnaires’ disease on the Upper East Side, according to health officials.
At least 76 cases have been identified and seven people remain hospitalized, the New York City Health Department announced.
Since the cluster began, 53 people have been discharged from the hospital, according to the department.
Health officials advised that anyone who has spent time in the affected ZIP codes 10028, 10075, 10128, including Carnegie Hill and Yorkville, should seek medical attention if they develop flu-like symptoms. Legionnaires’ disease symptoms can appear up to 14 days after exposure, according to the health department.
The department previously said it believes the source of the Legionella bacteria has likely been eliminated and that it will continue inspecting every cooling tower that tested positive for the bacteria.
Health officials added there is not an issue with any building’s plumbing system and that residents in the affected ZIP codes can continue to drink tap water, bathe, shower, cook and use an air conditioner at home.
Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by inhaling the Legionella bacteria in small droplets of water mixed in the air or contaminated water accidentally going into the lungs.
The bacteria are found naturally in freshwater, but amounts generally don’t lead to disease. The bacteria typically grow best in warm water and in warm to hot temperatures, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The disease does not generally spread from person to person, but infections can occur if the bacteria get into a building’s water supply, including in shower heads, sink faucets, hot water tanks, heaters, cooling towers and other plumbing systems.
Legionnaires’ disease has increased in prevalence over the last decade, reaching a peak of 2.71 cases per 100,000 in 2018, the CDC said. Cases dropped during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and then rebounded in 2021.
Although most people recover from Legionnaires’ disease with antibiotics, certain patients — including those who are immunocompromised or who suffer from chronic lung diseases — can develop complications that can be fatal.
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
Hundreds gathered to hold a vigil at Lindbergh Park, down the street from the Islamic Center of San Diego, to mourn the loss of three people from the Islamic Center of San Diego. (Photo by Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)
(SAN DIEGO) — Investigators are continuing to build a picture of the two suspects in the deadly Monday shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego which killed three people, and which law enforcement officials say may have been driven by nihilistic and accelerationist extremism.
Three men, one of whom was a security guard, were killed in the shooting on Monday, authorities said, with investigators saying they are currently considering the incident as a hate crime.
Two suspects, aged 17 and 18, were found dead in a vehicle nearby, police said. Authorities are investigating two teenagers, Cain Clark and Caleb Vazquez, as the suspected attackers in the shooting, several sources told ABC News.
Authorities are reviewing a video apparently posted online by one of the suspects in Monday’s shooting that appeared to capture a livestream of the attack and its aftermath, sources told ABC News.
Sources said a video posted to an online gore site allegedly shows the suspects approaching the center and then opening fire, with a person believed to be suspect Clark wearing camouflage fatigues and a plate carrier.
In a later portion of the video, sources said the person believed to be Clark can be seen reaching into the backseat of the vehicle and then shooting Vazquez, before chambering a second round and taking his own life.
The video and items found with the suspects’ bodies appeared to indicate associations with extremist ideology, law enforcement officials said.
A Sonnenrad patch, depicting a neo-Nazi symbol, and what analysts assess is likely a patch for a militant accelerationist group, are both visible on the plate carrier being worn by the person believed to be Clark, according to sources. Additionally, writings are visible on a gun, including drawings of SS bolts and neo-Nazi insignias, sources said.
Further symbols associated with neo-Nazism and militant accelerationism were found at the scene of the shooting, including a flag with a Sonnenrad on it and a gas can with SS bolts drawn on it, according to sources.
Investigators are examining a lengthy document circulating online that is comprised of two hate-filled essays totaling 75 pages allegedly written by the suspected shooters, sources told ABC News.
Both essays promote white nationalism and express a hatred for immigrants, racial minorities and others, as well as anger toward women who prefer taller men, according to sources. Vazquez allegedly writes he is an “accelerationist” in his essay, echoing nihilistic rhetoric, sources said.
It’s unclear when the essays were actually written — a section intended to identify the “targets” is left blank, sources said.
Social media accounts believed to be tied to Clark reflect possible associations with nihilistic violent extremist ideology, sources also told ABC News.
Early last year, police in Chula Vista, California, spoke with Vazquez after someone who knew him expressed concerns that he was interested in extremist ideology and mass-casualty attacks, though the concerns at that point didn’t meet the threshold for making an arrest, sources told ABC News.
A spokesperson for the Chula Vista Police Department told ABC News on Tuesday that the department “extends its deepest condolences to all those affected by this tragedy” but declined to answer questions about the prior contact.
The suspects met online and discovered they both lived in the San Diego area, according to Mark Remily, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego Field Office. They appear to have been radicalized online and had a “broad hatred” toward a wide array of races and religions, Remily said during a press briefing Tuesday.
“They didn’t discriminate on who they hated,” Remily said.
Investigators have recovered writings that outline “religious and racial beliefs of how the world they envision should look,” Remily said. Authorities are in the process of analyzing their writings to learn what led to the attack and how to prevent future ones, as well as looking into “how the radicalization occurred,” he said.
It’s too early in the investigation to tell if the mosque was the specific target, authorities said.
“We’re still looking through electronics to give us the answers, but again, what I can say is they definitely had a broad hatred towards a lot of folks,” Remily said.
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said law enforcement is still working to determine the scope of the “threat picture,” when asked if the Islamic center’s schools were the intended target.
Police are investigating how the suspects obtained firearms in the shooting, Wahl said Tuesday. The guns belonged to the parents of one of the suspects, he said.
During searches of two residences associated with the suspects, authorities seized “numerous pistols, rifles, shotguns, ammunition, tactical gear, as well as electronics,” Remily said.
“So far in this investigation, we’ve seized over 30 guns and a crossbow,” he said.
The shooting was reported shortly before noon Monday, police said.
A video review shows that the suspects got into a “gun battle” with the security guard, who was killed outside the mosque, according to Wahl.
The security guard had managed to put out a “lockdown protocol,” which along with the sound of gunfire, allowed those in the main common areas of the mosque to go into hiding, he said. There were some 140 children inside at the time, he said.
The suspects moved room by room once inside, but did not run into anyone, the police chief said. At one point, they are seen looking out a window, with one pointing to the window, before running out a nearby door, at which point they “immediately engage” the two other victims outside in the parking lot, he said.
Amin Abdullah, the security guard killed, has been hailed as a hero.
“His actions, without a doubt, delayed, distracted and ultimately deterred these two individuals from gaining access to the greater areas of the mosque where as many as 140 kids were within 15 feet of these suspects,” Wahl said Tuesday.
The two other victims killed in the shooting — identified by authorities as Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad — “drew the attention” of the suspects into a parking lot “where they were unfortunately unable to flee,” Wahl said. They were cornered by the suspects and killed, Wahl said.
Police are investigating a potential motive but said the shooting is currently being considered as a hate crime.
“There was definitely hate rhetoric that was involved,” Wahl said during a Monday press briefing.
Anti-Islamic writings were found in the vehicle with the two teens, sources told ABC News.
About two hours before the shooting at the mosque, San Diego police received a call involving the 17-year-old suspect, about a runaway juvenile, according to Wahl. The teen’s mother reported that “several of her weapons” and her vehicle were missing, he said. The mother also found a note, Wahl said, the contents of which the police chief did not share.
The mother told police that her son was with another individual and that they were both “dressed in camo,” Wahl said.
Officers were attempting to track down the vehicle and dispatched police to a mall and to a school with which one of the teens was associated, when the shooting at the mosque was reported, he said.
The Islamic Center of San Diego says it is the largest mosque in San Diego County.
“We have never experienced a tragedy like this before,” Taha Hassan, Imam and Director of Islamic Center of San Diego, said of the center at a news conference.
“It is extremely outrageous to target a place of worship. Our Islamic center is a place of worship. People come to the Islamic center to pray, to celebrate, to learn, not only Muslims, but we have people from all walks of life,” Hassan added.
“The religious intolerance and the hate, unfortunately, that exists in our nation is unprecedented,” Hassan said.
“We strongly condemn this horrifying act of violence,” Tazheen Nizam, the executive director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by this attack. No one should ever fear for their safety while attending prayers or studying at an elementary school.”
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria told ABC News that “we immediately have increased patrols around religious sites, both our Muslim, Jewish and other faith communities across the city. And I imagine we’ll maintain that posture for some time.”
A tropical depression that formed in the Gulf off the west coast of Florida, July 19, 2026, is expected to become Tropical Storm Bertha. (Sadik Demiroz/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A tropical storm watch is in effect Monday for parts of the Gulf Coast after a tropical depression formed over the weekend and is expected to become Tropical Storm Bertha late Monday or Monday night.
The National Hurricane Center said it is closely monitoring what is currently Tropical Depression Two, which formed Sunday.
The tropical storm watch has been issued from the Florida panhandle to the southeast Louisiana coast, including Panama City and Pensacola, Florida; Mobile, Alabama; and Gulfport, Mississippi.
Tropical storm conditions, including strong winds and rain, are possible in the watch area by late Monday.
As of 11 a.m. ET Monday the tropical depression was a weak and disorganized system centered about 120 miles south of Panama City and drifting northwest at 3 mph with maximum sustained winds of about 35 mph. A tropical storm is defined as a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 39 mph to 73 mph.
After the depression becomes a storm, it’s expected to slowly strengthen over the next few days and move mostly parallel to or along the Gulf Coast. The latest forecast puts the system near or south of New Orleans by Wednesday.
The storm could impact the Louisiana coast and the areas of southeast Texas on Wednesday and into Thursday. Tropical storm conditions will be possible from New Orleans to Houston.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible across Florida on Monday and into Monday night, mostly along the Gulf Coast and panhandle.
A possible storm surge of 1 to 3 feet could impact the area from Indian Pass, Florida, located about two hours southwest of Tallahassee, to the Chassahowitzka River, about 90 minutes north of Clearwater on the Gulf coast. The rough surf could produce life-threatening rip currents.
From Monday evening through Wednesday, thunderstorm activity is expected to shift toward southern Alabama and Mississippi. Widespread rainfall of 2 to 4 inches is expected in the area along the Gulf Coast through Friday, with isolated totals up to 8 inches possible.
