Three men reportedly involved in firing gunshots in Cambridge last Friday night were captured at gunpoint by MIT Campus Police officers, who chased their car over the Massachusetts Avenue bridge and arrested them as they abandoned their car and fled down an alley in Boston.
MIT police reported that officers in their patrol cars heard a report at 11:15pm on September 10 from Cambridge police, who reported that shots were fired during a dispute on Pine Street in the Central Square area and that the suspects fled in a black Ford Taurus with Maine license plates.
About a minute later, MIT Patrol Officer Robert Molino radioed that he was behind the car at 33 Massachusetts Avenue near Memorial Drive. Patrol Officers Brian Sousa and Joanne White, in an MIT police cruiser two blocks away, joined in the chase as the suspects refused to stop and sped across the Massachusetts Avenue bridge. Officers William Boulter and Mark Kelleher, in a third MIT cruiser, also gave chase.
The suspects' car struck several cars as they zigzagged across the bridge at high speed. As they reached the end of the bridge, their car slammed into another vehicle and they jumped out, leaving their car doors open as they fled down Back Street, the alley between Beacon Street and Storrow Drive.
Officers Molino, Sousa and Boulter gave chase with their guns drawn and captured the trio, one of whom had an ammunition magazine of a Glock semiautomatic weapon with 15 bullets. The gun was later recovered on the bridge.
MIT police placed them under arrest and transported them to the Cambridge Police Department.
Those arrested were Mark Lee Johnson, 24, of 380 Somerville Ave. in Somerville; Antonio John Monteiro, 21, of 10 Wendell St. in Cambridge; and Osvaldo da Costa, 21, of 3 Walden Square in Cambridge.
Mr. Johnson, who had the Glock magazine, was charged on six counts: possession of ammunition, possession of a Class D substance (marijuana), refusing to stop for a police officer, resisting arrest, driving to endanger and leaving the scene of an accident.
Mr. Monteiro was charged with possession of ammunition and leaving the scene of an accident. Mr. da Costa was charged with possession of ammunition, possession of a Class D substance (marijuana) and leaving the scene of an accident.
A version of this article appeared in the September 15, 1999 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 44, Number 5).
