A 25-year-old Dorchester man with a long trail of outstanding warrants was arrested late Sunday night near Old Road and Michigan Avenue after allegedly bolting from officers with a loaded .357 Magnum revolver stuffed in his pant leg — the second time in two weeks he's accused of trying to outrun Boston Police.
Boston officers spotted Tu-merrick Joseph Brown around 11 p.m. near the intersection as crowds dispersed from the Dominican Festival, and he allegedly fled on foot down Michigan Avenue when they approached, according to Boston Police. Officers caught up with him behind a home at 8 Michigan Ave., where they recovered a Ruger GP100 .357 Magnum handgun loaded with six rounds of live ammunition, per the Boston Police Department. The department also confirmed officers arrested a 17-year-old on Michigan Avenue that same night for illegal firearm possession, underscoring how many guns turned up in the same small stretch of Dorchester as the festival wound down.
Brown now faces charges of carrying a loaded firearm without a license as a subsequent offense, carrying a firearm without a license as a subsequent offense, a firearm violation tied to a prior violent or drug crime, and possession of ammunition without an FID card as a subsequent offense, according to police records cited by Boston Police. He is expected to be arraigned in Dorchester District Court, according to MassLive.
A Cruiser-Smashing Escape Two Weeks Earlier
Sunday's arrest wasn't Brown's first brush with officers this month. On August 2, he allegedly crashed into multiple cars and a Boston police cruiser near 48 Havelock Street around 9:10 a.m. while trying to evade a traffic stop at the Dorchester-Mattapan line, per Boston Police District B-3 log entries. MassLive's reporting adds that Brown crashed through a fence before fleeing on foot, per WHDH, and that officers later found a loaded firearm under the driver's seat of the car he abandoned.
That earlier warrant stemmed from a Dorchester District Court case accusing Brown of possessing a loaded gun, a large-capacity firearm, and ammunition without a license. He also had a Plymouth Superior Court warrant tied to accusations of organized serial retail theft, according to the same reporting.
A Rap Sheet That Spans Several Courts and Counties
Brown's history of running from law enforcement predates this month by years. In April 2023, Boston Police Youth Violence Strike Force officers arrested a then-22-year-old Brown at 28 Michigan Avenue — the same Dorchester block where Sunday's chase began — on 12 outstanding warrants including assault and battery on a police officer, according to Universal Hub. Officers shot two attacking pit bulls during that arrest, killing one, and seized a .40-caliber handgun from the home.
In May 2025, Massachusetts State Police arrested a 24-year-old Brown after he fled a traffic stop in a black Maserati on Columbia Road, leading troopers on a high-speed chase onto Route 24 before he ran into nearby woods, according to the Fall River Reporter. Troopers reportedly held off pursuing him through residential streets before tracking him down on the highway. Years earlier, in October 2022, Watertown Police arrested a 22-year-old Brown after he and three others allegedly stole Texas Instruments calculators from a Target and disabled anti-theft devices, at a time when he also had an active Haverhill District Court warrant for larceny over $1,200, according to Watertown News.
Enhanced Charges Carry Mandatory Minimums
Because Brown's new gun charges are filed as subsequent offenses and include a firearm violation tied to a prior violent or drug crime, they trigger some of the toughest penalties on the books. Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 269, Section 10G, defendants with prior violent or drug convictions who are charged with firearm offenses face mandatory minimum state prison sentences, according to Boston Police.
The intersection where Sunday's chase began has its own troubled history. Old Road and Michigan Avenue was the site of a fatal shooting in September 2023 that led to murder and illegal firearm charges against a 21-year-old Dorchester resident, according to CBS News. Boston Police District B-3 officers had ramped up patrols in the area specifically to manage crowds dispersing from the festival when they encountered Brown.
The case also fits a pattern Hoodline has tracked in Dorchester of suspects striking police vehicles to evade stops, including an April moped stop gone wrong on Blue Hill Avenue and an August 2024 scooter pursuit on Bowdoin Street that ended in the arrest of 19-year-old Jayden Fernandez. Whether Brown's Havelock Street case moves forward alongside Sunday's new charges remains before the courts.
