‘I was running for my life’: Witnesses describe Memorial Drive shooting
Witnesses describe man armed with rifle
ANOTHER WITNESS IS TALKING. WE WANT TO LISTEN IN. YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH. SO START FROM THE BEGINNING. YOU’RE YOU’RE HERE STOPPED AT A RED LIGHT. AND THEN HEAR THE SHOTS. I’M NOT SURE WHAT THEY WERE. AND IT WAS A YOU KNOW, A NUMBER OF SHOTS THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX SEVEN RIGHT IN A ROW. AND SO THEN THE MEN EMERGED FROM THE RIGHT SIDE WHERE THE DUNKIN DONUTS AREA WAS, THE MIT CREDIT UNION SHOOTING RANDOMLY IN THE AIR, SPRAYING CARS, SPRAYING EVERYWHERE. AND PEOPLE JUST STARTED RUNNING. PEOPLE GOT OUT OF THEIR CARS AND JUST STARTED RUNNING THE OPPOSITE WAY. WERE YOU IN THE DIRECTION OF THE GUNFIRE? I HE WAS SHOOTING RANDOMLY. SO AT ONE POINT I PROBABLY WAS, BUT YEAH, I JUST, I JUST, YOU KNOW, GOT OUT OF THE CAR AND RAN. WHAT’S GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND? JUST GET SAFE, THAT’S ALL. YEAH. AND NOT CALL 911. SO THAT’S YOUR CAR IS STILL THERE. YEAH. YEAH, YEAH. DID YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THAT? BECAUSE STATE POLICE OBVIOUSLY SHOW UP. NO, I RAN BEHIND THE BUILDING. YEAH. AND BUT THE POLICE OFFICER, VERY SOON AFTER, WHILE I WAS ON THE PHONE WITH 911 POLICE OFFICER SHOWED UP. SO IT WAS A PRETTY FAST RESPONSE. IT WAS PRETTY IMPRESSIVE. YEAH, YEAH. SO YOU STAYED BEHIND? YEAH. YEAH, I GUESS. HAVE YOU HAD A MOMENT TO REFLECT LIKE. NO, I MEAN, JUST LIKE, WOW. LIKE FORTUNATE THAT I WASN’T HURT. I MEAN, TWO PEOPLE WERE HURT. SO THAT’S LIKE HORRIBLE. YEAH. SUPPOSEDLY THE GUY, I MEAN, I SAW SOME VIDEO THAT SOMEONE WAS TAKING THE STATE POLICE KIND OF WORKING ON. YEAH, I DON’T KNOW, I CAN’T SPECULATE, I DON’T KNOW. THEY SAY THAT HE WAS SUBDUED, BUT I’M NOT SURE. I DON’T KNOW. I DIDN’T SEE IT HAPPEN. SO THE THOUGHT OF SOMEONE JUST KIND OF LIKE RANDOMLY, NO, IT’S CRAZY RIGHT? YOU DON’T EXPECT IT IN CAMBRIDGE, HONESTLY. RIGHT. IT’S JUST ABSOLUTELY CRAZY. WERE YOU ON YOUR WAY HOME? YEAH, ON MY WAY BACK HOME. YEAH, YEAH. CRAZY. WAS YOUR VEHICLE HIT? I DON’T KNOW, LIKE, WHEN I LEFT THE VEHICLE, IT WAS NOT. BUT HE, YOU KNOW, DROVE, WALKED BY MY VEHICLE AND LOOKED BACK. HE WAS SHOOTING AROUND. SO THERE’S SOME THERE’S SOME SENSE THAT MY VEHICLE MAY HAVE BEEN HIT, BUT I’M NOT I’M NOT SURE. SO AS YOU’RE WALKING AWAY, HE’S STILL SHOOTING. AS I’M RUNNING AWAY. HE’S SHOOTING. YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH. AND HE’S SHOOTING WHAT LIKE TOWARDS SHOOTING CARS, SHOOTING, SHOOTING SOMETIMES IN THE AIR, SOMETIMES JUST SPRAYING. YEAH. ALL OVER THE PLACE. IT’S CRAZINESS. YEAH. WOW. YEAH. NUTS. AND ARE YOU RUNNING WITH A GROUP OF PEOPLE? YEAH. THERE WAS A GROUP PEOPLE. THERE WAS A GROUP PEOPLE WHO WAS RUNNING WITH ME AND ONE WOMAN FELL. IT WAS SHE CAME THIS WAY, BUT I JUST I SORT OF CUT THROUGH THE BUSHES HERE AND THEN WENT BEHIND THE BUILDING JUST TO SORT OF GET AWAY BECAUSE IT WAS, YOU KNOW, HE WAS LIKE APPROACHING THIS DIRECTION. I’M LIKE, WELL, THIS IS NOT NOT GOOD. YOU DESCRIBED IT AS A MACHINE GUN. YEAH. IT WAS A LARGE RIFLE. AND THERE’S A SUCCESSION OF SHOTS WAS SUCH THAT, YOU KNOW, IT WAS, YOU KNOW, AUTOMATIC. IT HAS RAPID FIRE. YEAH, YEAH. WELL, I’M SO SORRY. ALL RIGHT. NO, NO NO, I APPRE
‘I was running for my life’: Witnesses describe Memorial Drive shooting
Witnesses describe man armed with rifle
Updated: 4:18 PM EDT May 11, 2026
Multiple witnesses describe seeing a man armed with a rifle shooting into busy traffic along Memorial Drive in Cambridge on Monday afternoon. They described more than a dozen shots being fired rapidly, and officials confirmed at least one person was treated for a gunshot wound. Memorial Drive was closed at the River Street Bridge for the investigation.”People just started running. People got out of their cars and just started running the opposite way,” said Todd Czubek, a witness. Czubek said the gunman continued to fire as he got out of his car and joined the crowd running from the scene. “Shooting cars, shooting sometimes in the air, sometimes just spraying. All over the place. It was craziness,” Czubek said. Joseph Minino Rodriguez, who saw the incident unfolding from his apartment on the 18th floor, described seeing the gunman firing into traffic. He shared a cellphone video from the incident and said that he was on the phone with emergency dispatchers as the incident unfolded. Rodriguez said that, while he was watching, the shooter “just straight up gets into a gunfight with the cops.” He said the gunman appeared to fall during that gunfight and then threw his gun.”Once he throws the gun, my boy is just out here, just lying down, and now he has his hands up. Now he’s done,” Rodriguez said. Lisa Schill, another witness who was in a school van on the way to pick up kids at school, told NewsCenter 5 that she heard multiple shots fired in quick succession. She left the van behind and ran away from the incident.”I was running for my life,” Schill said. Schill said she fell and injured her leg while running from the gunman. She had an ice pack strapped around her leg at the time of our interview. Witness Shannon Young said dozens of cars were waiting in traffic when he saw a man with a rifle open fire.”It was definitely semiautomatic. He was letting off too quick to be a single shot,” Young said. Young said he ran after his vehicle was hit in the driver’s side headlight.”My car is shot, it won’t start now,” he said. “I’m closely monitoring the situation on Memorial Drive,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement. “There is no ongoing threat to the public. However, residents and commuters are strongly encouraged to avoid the area to allow public safety personnel to do their work. Grateful to first responders who worked quickly to keep people safe and secure the scene.”
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. —
Multiple witnesses describe seeing a man armed with a rifle shooting into busy traffic along Memorial Drive in Cambridge on Monday afternoon.
They described more than a dozen shots being fired rapidly, and officials confirmed at least one person was treated for a gunshot wound. Memorial Drive was closed at the River Street Bridge for the investigation.
“People just started running. People got out of their cars and just started running the opposite way,” said Todd Czubek, a witness.
Czubek said the gunman continued to fire as he got out of his car and joined the crowd running from the scene.
“Shooting cars, shooting sometimes in the air, sometimes just spraying. All over the place. It was craziness,” Czubek said.
Joseph Minino Rodriguez, who saw the incident unfolding from his apartment on the 18th floor, described seeing the gunman firing into traffic. He shared a cellphone video from the incident and said that he was on the phone with emergency dispatchers as the incident unfolded.
Rodriguez said that, while he was watching, the shooter “just straight up gets into a gunfight with the cops.”
He said the gunman appeared to fall during that gunfight and then threw his gun.
“Once he throws the gun, my boy is just out here, just lying down, and now he has his hands up. Now he’s done,” Rodriguez said.
Lisa Schill, another witness who was in a school van on the way to pick up kids at school, told NewsCenter 5 that she heard multiple shots fired in quick succession. She left the van behind and ran away from the incident.
“I was running for my life,” Schill said.
Schill said she fell and injured her leg while running from the gunman. She had an ice pack strapped around her leg at the time of our interview.
Witness Shannon Young said dozens of cars were waiting in traffic when he saw a man with a rifle open fire.
“It was definitely semiautomatic. He was letting off too quick to be a single shot,” Young said.
Young said he ran after his vehicle was hit in the driver’s side headlight.
“My car is shot, it won’t start now,” he said.
“I’m closely monitoring the situation on Memorial Drive,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement. “There is no ongoing threat to the public. However, residents and commuters are strongly encouraged to avoid the area to allow public safety personnel to do their work. Grateful to first responders who worked quickly to keep people safe and secure the scene.”