Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

'Trigger Happy' Bushwick Cop Shooting Suspect Arrest a Relief for Residents

By DNAinfo Staff on February 1, 2012 12:29pm

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly holds up the slug that was removed from the skull of Officer Kevin Brennan, who was shot in Bushwick on Jan. 31, 2012.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly holds up the slug that was removed from the skull of Officer Kevin Brennan, who was shot in Bushwick on Jan. 31, 2012.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Jill Colvin

By Ben Fractenberg and Sonja Sharp

DNAinfo Staff

BROOKLYN — The man who was arrested for allegedly shooting a cop in the head at the Bushwick Houses was known as a violent man, residents said.

Luis “Baby” Ortiz, 21, of Brooklyn, who was arrested Tuesday night for allegedly shooting Officer Kevin Brennan, 29, was expected to appear in court Wednesday. He was already wanted for questioning about a New Year's Day murder and had been arrested more than a dozen times for drugs and violence, officials said.

Residents were relieved he was off the street.

"I'm happy that they got him,” said Drucila Ortiz, 28, a Bushwick Houses resident who is not related to the suspect. “My daughter is scared to go outside because he's a trigger-happy motherf----."

Residents said Ortiz didn't live at the Bushwick House, but had family there. 

"It's about time something bad happened to him. He deserved it,” said another resident, who identified himself only as Ricardo. “It's going to make my neighborhood a bit better.”

The shooting unfolded at 370 Bushwick Ave., near Moore Street, just after 9 p.m., police said.

Brennan, 29, a decorated seven-year veteran from Long Island, and his partners, officers Michael Burbridge and Christopher Mastoros, responded to a call of shots fired at 140 Moore St.

All three, who were assigned to the borough's anti-crime task force, were dressed in plain clothes.

When they arrived, they saw three men running out of the building, one of whom they recognized as Ortiz, police said. He had a gun in his hand.

Officials believe that Ortiz had previously been arrested by one of the three officers.

Someone walked out of a rear entrance of 370 Bushwick Ave., and Ortiz slipped inside. Brennan dashed after him, but the door slammed shut and locked from the inside before his partners could follow, Police Commissioner Ray Kelley said.

Brennan tried to tackle Ortiz, and the two man grappled with each other. That part of the struggle was captured on security video, but then they fell into "a sort of alcove" out of range of the camera, Kelly said. One of the last images before the shooting is over Ortiz "with his hand over (Brennan's) head," Kelly said.

Ortiz fired a single shot at Brennan, striking him in the base of the skull below the right ear before fleeing, officials said.

It was not clear whether Brennan managed to shoot at Ortiz, Kelly said.

Ortiz was arrested about two hours later in a fifth floor apartment in neighboring 390 Bushwick Ave.

NYPD chief spokesman Paul Browne said that when Emergency Service Unit officers knocked on the door, a man who identified himself as Ortiz's uncle answered.

When they asked him if anyone else was in the apartment, he said, "My nephew." And when they showed him a picture of the alleged shooter, the man said, "It looks like him."

Cops moved in and found Ortiz sitting on a bed. They took him into custody without incident.

But the tenants insisted on Wednesday that they were not related to Ortiz, even though they share the same last name. He was allowed in by a younger member of the family who knew him, they said.

Inside the apartment, Ortiz kept saying, "I did something bad," said Gloria Ortiz, a relative of the tenants.

At least one member of the family was arrested with Luis Ortiz, Gloria Ortiz said. Cops did not immediately confirm this.

Investigators later found a black revolver with a wooden handle on the ground outside the apartment. They were still trying to confirm whether it was the gun used to shoot Brennan.

Meanwhile, Brennan, who is married with a 6-week-old daughter, Maeve, is expected to make a full recovery and is being treated at Bellevue Hospital.

"He's in and out of consciousness, mostly because of morphine that he's been given," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said at briefing at police headquarters Wednesday morning.

"The bullet was taken out of his head last evening and we're sure he's going to be OK," Kelly said. "So, really, this is a miracle. All indications are that he will be fine."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a Tuesday night press conference that "I think there's no reason to think [Maeve's] daddy won’t be there to see her crawl for the first time and, in good time dance at her wedding."