Cop-Shooting Suspect Had Violent History, Say Police

February 1, 2012 by Colleen Long, Associated Press Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Ortiz Questioned About Jan. 1 Murder

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Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly says the man accused of shooting an officer in the head Tuesday night also had been wanted for questioning in one of the first killings of 2012.

According to a police spokesman, Luis Ortiz was being questioned about the murder of Shannon McKinney, who was fatally shot in the head around 1:50 p.m. on Jan. 1 at Siegel and Humboldt streeets, Bushwick.

Ortiz was being held on a charge of attempted murder of a police officer Wednesday in the wake of Tuesday’s cop shooting.

Officer Kevin Brennan was shot in the head at point-blank range, but is expected to recover. A bullet was removed from his skull late Tuesday night. He remained in critical but stable condition Wednesday.

Police say they believe Ortiz fired twice at another person before officers arrived.

The NYPD says he has at least 14 prior arrests. There was no number at his home and no information on whether he had an attorney.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Brennan is “one lucky young man” as he held up a jar containing the bloody bullet during a news conference at Bellevue Hospital Tuesday night.

“God in this case was kind,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg added. “It could have turned out an awful lot worse.”

Brennan and two other plainclothes anticrime officers were responding to a report of shots fired at the Bushwick Houses public housing development at about 9 p.m. when they encountered three individuals running from a building, the commissioner said.

The officers gave chase, and one of the suspects turned and fired a shot, striking Brennan, Kelly said.

Emergency services unit officers got a tip the suspect may have gone into an apartment at 390 Bushwick Ave., police said. They knocked on the door and showed the man who answered a photo of the suspect. The man said it resembled his nephew, who was inside, according to police.

Officers found Ortiz in the back bedroom; he was arrested without incident.

A black revolver with a brown handle was found on the ground outside the building. Police were investigating whether it was the weapon used to fire at the officer.