🚨⛵ FATAL POLICE SHOOTING IN RHODE ISLAND AFTER VESSEL MATCHING DESCRIPTION OF SAILBOAT STOLEN FROM JERSEY CITY
A man was killed and an officer wounded during a shooting on a sailboat in Rhode Island on Wednesday. Police were investigating the vessel because it matched the description of a forty-foot sailboat recently stolen from a Jersey City marina.
📍 NEWPORT, RI — A man was killed and a Newport police officer was wounded Wednesday morning during an encounter involving a sailboat that authorities say appeared similar to a vessel recently reported stolen from a Jersey City marina.
The incident began after Newport’s harbormaster’s office was alerted by a private party in New Jersey about a stolen sailing vessel and was asked to watch for it entering Newport waters.
Shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday, the harbormaster spotted a vessel matching a similar description anchored in Newport’s north anchorage. Newport police officers and harbormaster personnel approached the vessel to investigate.
👮♂️ Police said they encountered a man on the bow who then fled below deck despite officers’ commands.
According to Newport Police, the man was armed with a firearm and shots were fired during the encounter. The man was killed.
Authorities later identified him as 27-year-old Brendan Norris of Newport, Rhode Island.
🚔 A Newport police officer was also struck by gunfire in the lower extremity. The officer was transported to Newport Hospital and was later released to recover at home.
⛵ The investigation comes just days after New Jersey State Police received a report that a 40-foot, 1968 Hinckley Bermuda sailboat had been stolen from Liberty Harbor Marina in Jersey City late Saturday night.
New Jersey State Police Marine Services Bureau troopers responded to the marina around 11 p.m. Saturday and initially asked the public for assistance identifying a man captured on surveillance video in connection with the theft.
⚠️ Authorities have NOT confirmed that the vessel involved in Wednesday’s Newport incident was the stolen Jersey City sailboat. Newport officials have said only that it appeared to be a vessel of a similar description.
Investigators also have not established any connection between Norris and the person seen in the Jersey City surveillance footage.
The shooting remains under investigation by Rhode Island State Police and the Newport Police Department, in coordination with the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office.
📰 Garden State News Network will continue monitoring the investigation and any developments regarding the possible connection to the Jersey City sailboat theft.