Rhode Island Police Fatally Shoot Sailboat Theft Suspect in Gunfire
Intense body camera footage captured the moment Rhode Island police officers got into a fatal shootout with a suspected sailboat bandit who had fired at them aboard the luxury vessel he stole from a New Jersey marina.
Brendan Norris was spotted aboard the missing Pathfinder – a 1968 Hinkley Bermuda 40 – moored in Rhode Island’s Newport Marina as four Newport officers hightailed towards the vessel on Aug. 26.
Norris, 27, was above deck pulling up an anchor with the engines running before he made a daring escape below deck, according to video shared by the Newport Police Chief Ryan Duffy.
“Sir, stay on the deck,” one cop shouted as he pointed his gun at the sailboat.
Two officers hopped onto the boat when Norris fired at least one shot, striking one cop in the leg.
Police unloaded their guns in the direction of Norris in a barrage of bullets that lasted 19 seconds.
During the shooting, two of the officers dove from the stolen boat onto the harbormaster’s boat to escape the gunfire.
“Shots fired, shots fired. One hit,” one officer yelled into his radio.
The wounded officer had been struck in the face by shrapnel and in the leg by one of Norris’ shots, Duffy said.
The officer jumped down to the cabin’s entrance where he discovered the mortally wounded Norris.
“I’ve got a suspect down. I have my eyes on him,” the officer relays over his radio.
“Who’s been hit?” another officer asked repeatedly.
“I’ve been hit in the leg, relax,” the officer replies as he climbs into the cabin. “Everybody chill.”
Norris died at the scene from a severe gunshot wound to the head.
The officer was taken to the hospital in stable condition with a leg injury and has since returned to duty, Duffy said.
Authorities allege that the modern-day pirate stole the Pathfinder during a late-night break-in at Liberty Harbor Marina in Jersey City, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, on Aug. 22.
Security footage showed Norris lingering around the New Jersey marina for approximately 90 minutes before allegedly taking control of the docked boat.
He navigated the Pathfinder through the Upper Bay and beneath the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, then allegedly disabled the vessel’s transponder, a tracking device used to monitor its location.
The boat’s owner, Jim Bonomo, reported the Pathfinder missing after arriving at the marina with his wife on Aug. 23 and discovering that the vessel, which he had owned for 10 years, was gone.
Bonomo alerted marinas along the East Coast and asked them to watch for the missing boat.
In Newport, a harbormaster spotted a vessel matching the Pathfinder’s description. Its name, however, had been scraped from the stern.
The harbormaster contacted police about Norris, prompting the confrontation in the harbor shortly after 9 a.m.
