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Bushwick Cop Shooting Suspect Luis Ortiz Defiant at Precinct Stationhouse

By DNAinfo Staff on February 1, 2012 7:11pm

By Paul Lomax, Ben Fractenberg and Sonja Sharp

DNAinfo Staff

BROOKLYN — A defiant Luis Ortiz shouted, smirked and made kissing motions at a crowd of onlookers as he was led from a Williamsburg precinct station house Wednesday on charges of trying to kill a young cop who just became a dad.

Ortiz emerged from the 90th Precinct station house about 5:15 p.m., 20 hours after he allegedly shot Police Officer Kevin Brennan in the head at point-blank range in the hallway of a building in the Bushwick Houses.

Wearing cornrows and a black sweatshirt with the words "TAP OUT," Ortiz narrowed his eyes and began shouting in Spanish as he was led in handcuffs to a waiting police car.

His family and friends in the crowd followed his lead, shouting, "F--- the cops" and following him down Union Avenue along with members of the media. Two or three photographers were punched by the pro-Ortiz contingent.

Luis Ortiz, accused of shooting Police Officer Kevin Brennan, was led from the 90th Precinct station house on Feb. 1, 2012.
Luis Ortiz, accused of shooting Police Officer Kevin Brennan, was led from the 90th Precinct station house on Feb. 1, 2012.
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DNAinfo/Paul Lomax

Ortiz, of Brooklyn, has a long rap sheet, with more than a dozen prior arrests for drugs and acts of violence, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said earlier Wednesday. He is also under investigation for a New Year's Day homicide in Brooklyn.

While at Rikers Island serving time for assault from April to June 2011, he was charged with felony possession of contraband for hiding a sharpened piece of plastic in his boxer shorts.  He was sentenced to time served. 

Then in December, he served a five-day stretch at Rikers and was released on Dec. 20.

The shooting of Brennan unfolded about 9 p.m. Tuesday, when he and two other officers responded to the Bushwick Houses on a report of shots fired, police said.

The officers saw Ortiz flee the scene with a gun, and gave chase. Brennan caught up with Ortiz inside a building at 370 Bushwick Ave., separated from his partners by a locked door, Kelly said.

Ortiz and Brennan grappled with each other and fell to the floor, at which point Ortiz allegedly shot Brennan in the back of the head, Kelly said. The .38-caliber bullet lodged in the base of Brennan's skull.

Brennan, who joined the NYPD in 2005, was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where surgeons removed the bullet. Married and the father of an infant girl, Brennan is expected to survive.

Ortiz was arrested a little after 11 p.m. in an apartment in a nearby building. He was charged Wednesday with attempted murder of a police officer, assault on a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing.

A defiant Luis Ortiz is led from the 90th Precinct in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on charges he tried to kill Police Officer Kevin Brennan.
A defiant Luis Ortiz is led from the 90th Precinct in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on charges he tried to kill Police Officer Kevin Brennan.
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DNAinfo/Paul Lomax

Many resident of Bushwick Houses applauded Ortiz's arrest, saying he'd been preying on people for too long. Kelly said Ortiz was a member of a gang that called itself "The Crew" and was responsible for several robberies and drug deals in the area.

Additional reporting by Shayna Jacobs