Newport police on Friday released a six-minute narrated video showing the moments before an officer was shot and a 27-year-old man died aboard a sailboat that had been reported stolen out of New Jersey. The vessel, called the Pathfinder, had its name scraped off and was found anchored offshore in Newport back on Aug. 26, when officers boarded it and a confrontation in the cabin below deck turned deadly.
Newport Police Chief Ryan Duffy laid out the department's account in a social media video recounting the shooting, saying the harbormaster first noticed the 40-foot sailboat anchored offshore and ferried four officers out to investigate just after 9 a.m., according to WPRI. The man aboard was later identified by police as Brendan Norris, 27.
Police said Norris appeared to be preparing to leave when officers arrived, with the engine running and the anchor appearing to have been lifted, before he went below deck, according to WJAR. Officers ordered Norris to stay on deck, but he rushed below and officers reported seeing him rummaging around in the cabin.
Shot Fired From Inside the Cabin
Duffy said Norris then fired a shot from inside the cabin that struck one officer in the leg and sent debris flying into the officer's face, per the same WPRI account. Officers opened fire into the cabin below in response. They later found Norris unresponsive inside with a gun beside him and what Duffy described as a severe head injury.
Norris was pronounced dead at the scene. The officer who was struck was taken to Newport Hospital and treated for the leg wound, WPRI reported. As originally reported by The Boston Globe in the days after the shooting, Duffy declined at the time to say whether Norris was shot by law enforcement or died from a self-inflicted gunshot.
Conflicting Accounts of How Norris Died
The newly released footage has not fully settled that question. WJAR's report on the bodycam release states that Norris fired the first shot before police returned fire, shooting him in the head, while the earlier Globe reporting had the chief declining to specify whether the fatal wound came from police gunfire or was self-inflicted. The two accounts differ on the precise cause of the fatal injury, and Hoodline could not independently verify which version is accurate.
The video released Friday, as described by What's Up Newp, pairs a portion of body-worn camera footage with narration, radio communications and other supporting material compiled by the department. The release came roughly two months after the shooting itself, as first detailed by Boston 25 News.
