A bullet was removed from the skull of an NYPD officer from Long Island who was shot while chasing a suspect and he was expected to make a full recovery.
“He is one lucky young man,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said of Officer Kevin Brennan, 29, of New Hyde Park, as he held up a jar containing the bloody bullet during a news conference at Bellevue Hospital Tuesday night.
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Brennan remained in critical but stable condition on Wednesday.
“God in this case was kind,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “It could have turned out an awful lot worse.”
The alleged shooter, Luis Ortiz, was apprehended about two hours after the shooting inside an apartment building close to the scene, Kelly said. It wasn’t clear if he had a lawyer.
Kelly said the suspect was known to the department.
Brennan and two other plainclothes anti-crime 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.
Ortiz is likely to be charged with attempted murder of a police officer, authorities said.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
