A Rhode Island man was killed in a shootout with police after he allegedly stole a rare, luxury sailboat from a Jersey City marina and hightailed the vessel back home.
Brendan Norris, 27, was gunned down when he shot at police officers who discovered him aboard the stolen boat that was anchored at Rhode Island’s Newport Marina on Wednesday at around 9 a.m., officials said.
The modern-day pirate is believed to have commandeered a 1968 Hinkley Bermuda 40 from the Liberty Harbor Marina — billed as “just minutes from the heart of Manhattan” on Saturday night, according to WNBC.
Norris was seen lurking around the area of the New Jersey marina, which has slips for 100 boats, for roughly an hour and a half, where he mingled with people before he launched the daring heist.
Surveillance footage captured the mustachioed bandit with his arms full of bags near the water before untying the boat and taking off.
Norris’ online profile for a crewing service states that he is the captain of a 40-foot mooring boat in Newport, RI, and a Chief Engineer on a 65-foot Vicem, a luxury motor yacht.
He was looking for jobs as a deckhand or crewmate in the yachting industry, according to the recruiting site Crewbay.
“Been on boats my whole life and know my way around a one very well (yes i can tie a bowline?),” Norris wrote, saying he was “Easy going, drama free, and fun to be around.”
The luxury sailboat, named Pathfinder, voyaged down the Upper Bay and under the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge before Norris allegedly disabled the transponder system that helps track the vessel, the outlet reported.
The Pathfinder’s owner, Jim Bonomo, returned to the marina with his wife Sunday morning to find that the boat that he has had for 10 years had vanished.
“I literally pulled up to the gate, and looked at my dock, and was like, ‘Where’s the boat?’” Bonomo told WJAR.
The couple reported the boat missing to New Jersey State Police and the US Coast Guard before alerting marinas along the East Coast to be on the lookout for Pathfinder.
“A 1968 Hinkley Bermuda 40, there’s only like 200 of them left in the world,” Bonomo said. “Newport, Rhode Island, is probably the sailboat capital of the country. So if anybody got the news that this prestigious sailboat was taken, it would have been that community there.”
Harbormaster officials at the Newport Marina discovered the sailboat moored in the harbor near the Newport Bridge and called police Wednesday morning.
Four officers and three Harbormaster Office members rode out to the boat where they confronted Norris on the bow, Newport Police Chief Ryan Duffy told reporters.
Norris ducked below deck and ignored commands from police when he armed himself with a gun and fired at officers.
Norris was killed in the gunfight while one officer was struck in the “lower extremities,” Duffy said.
Witnesses recalled hearing 10 to 14 shots going off before the shooting died down, according to WJAR.
The wounded officer was hospitalized in stable condition. He has since been discharged and is recovering at home.
Bonomo was left confused over Norris’ motive and only learned about Pathfinder’s discovery when he saw the shooting on the news.
“The next thing I know, I’m seeing Pathfinder on all the news feeds,” he said. “So, yeah, that was pretty shocking.
“I don’t understand why something like that would happen from just stealing a boat,” he added. “It’s a tragic end. I’m really sorry that that’s how it ended.”
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