A suspected luxury-boat thief was fatally shot by police in Rhode Island after authorities said he opened fire during a tense confrontation aboard the vessel.
Brendan Norris, 27, had been identified as a leading suspect in the reported theft, according to police.
Investigators alleged that Norris took a 1968 Hinckley Bermuda 40 from New Jersey before sailing it to Newport Marina in Rhode Island, the New York Post reported.
At about 9am on August 26, officers spotted the boat, named Pathfinder by its owner, and moved in to investigate.
According to bodycam footage released by Chief Ryan Duffy, Norris was working above deck when he noticed the approaching officers.
He then ran inside the vessel and attempted to conceal himself below deck.
An officer warned him, ‘Sir, stay on the deck,’ but Norris continued inside. Moments later, gunfire erupted and the suspect was killed.
Officials said one police officer was also wounded during the 19-second confrontation.
Police identified Brendan Norris, 27, as a leading suspect in the New Jersey boat theft
Officers located the stolen vessel at Newport Marina in Rhode Island and went aboard to investigate
Police said Norris exchanged gunfire with officers before he was shot and killed
Police said Norris fired at least once after two officers boarded the boat.
The officer nearest to him was struck in the leg and face by fragments from the gunfire.
‘Shots fired, shots fired. One hit,’ an officer can be heard reporting over the radio in the bodycam video.
After the shooting, an officer entered the cabin and found Norris unresponsive. Police later confirmed that he had suffered a fatal head wound.
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‘I’ve got a suspect down. I have my eyes on him,’ the officer said in the footage.
The wounded officer was taken to hospital in stable condition and had not returned to duty, Duffy told WJAR.
‘The party armed himself with a firearm and shots were fired,’ Duffy said. ‘The suspect is deceased.’
Surveillance footage showed Norris reportedly lingering near Liberty Harbor Marina in Jersey City before the theft
Police said Norris was recorded taking Jim Bonomo’s rare boat from its dock after disabling its tracking transponder
Police said Pathfinder was taken during a late-night theft at Jersey City’s Liberty Harbor Marina on August 22.
Jim Bonomo, who owned the vessel, said he returned to the dock with his wife on August 23 and discovered that the boat he had owned for a decade was gone.
He contacted police, while his wife turned to social media in an effort to alert others about the missing vessel.
‘I literally pulled up to the gate, and looked at my dock, and was like, “Where’s the boat?”’ Bonomo told the outlet.
The investigation intensified after surveillance footage appeared to show Norris moving around the marina.
Authorities said the suspect disabled the boat’s transponder, a system used to monitor and track its location, after taking it from the dock.
Police also said the name Pathfinder had been scraped from the stern.
Bonomo said he had never met Norris and learned about the fatal confrontation through social media. He said he was struggling to understand how the incident had escalated so dramatically.
‘I don’t understand why something like that would happen from just stealing a boat,’ he said. ‘It’s a tragic end. I’m really sorry that that’s how it ended.’
