Stolen Bermuda 40 Ends in Fatal Newport Shooting

It all seemed like fun in the beginning, after all, who would miss a 58-year rag boat, even if it did have a fancy name. What could go wrong?

The Theft

Jim Bonomo and his wife arrived at Liberty Harbor Marina in Jersey City on Sunday afternoon expecting an afternoon sail. They found an empty slip instead. "I literally pulled up to the gate, and looked at my dock, and was like, 'Where's the boat?'"

The boat was Pathfinder, a 1968 Hinckley Bermuda 40 Bonomo has owned for about ten years. Police say she was taken late Saturday night, August 22. Surveillance cameras caught it: the suspect jumped a gate, unlocked her, and sailed away. Bonomo's wife began circulating the theft on social media while the couple contacted Jersey City police, New Jersey State Police, and the Coast Guard.

Bonomo said the surveillance footage was hard to watch — it showed the man spending hours around Pathfinder before finally taking her off the dock. "He was literally on video on the boat for an hour and a half. He actually talked to people on the dock. Police say the transponder was disabled as the boat reached the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, and authorities lost the track. 

Found In Newport

Days later, a harbormaster in Newport who had been told to watch for the vessel spotted a boat matching her description. Newport police, working with the harbormaster, approached the sailboat off North Anchorage shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday. 

"The male fled below deck, ignoring commands from officers," said Newport Police Chief Ryan Duffy. "The party armed himself with a firearm, and shots were fired. The suspect is deceased. Officers returned fire, killing the suspect, identified as Brendan Norris, 27.” 

Norris was a Newport resident. A veteran Newport officer reportedly took a graze wound and was released from the hospital the same day. The Newport Police Department, Rhode Island State Police, and the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office are investigating; all officers who discharged their firearms are on administrative leave pending the outcome.

The Boat

Bonomo's view is that the thief picked badly. "A 1968 Hinckley Bermuda 40, there's only like 200 of them left in the world. Newport, Rhode Island, is probably the sailboat capital of the country,” he said. “So, if anybody got the news that this prestigious sailboat was taken, it would have been that community there."

He also noted she isn't a boat you take casually: "It's an older boat, so you kinda have to know what you're doing," Bonomo said. Pathfinder remains in police custody as evidence. Bonomo, who has spent a decade working on her, expects to get her back.

"Everybody was looking for [her], and I guess we have a great outcome, as long as that police officer is OK."

Brandan Norris, RIP.