Newport Officer Shot Boarding a Stolen Sailboat; Armed Man Killed in the Harbor

Incident: August 26, 2026, Newport, Rhode Island. Reported by Newport police at a same-day briefing, August 26, 2026.

A man in New Jersey called the Newport Harbormaster’s Office on Tuesday to report his sailboat stolen. Wednesday morning a boat matching it was sitting at anchor in the North Anchorage off Newport Harbor.

Four Newport officers and three people from the Harbormaster’s Office went out to it shortly after 9 a.m. A man was standing on the bow. They gave him commands. He ignored them, went below deck, and came back up armed.

Chief Ryan Duffy: “The party armed himself with a firearm, and shots were fired.”

One officer, a veteran of the department, was hit — a graze wound to a lower extremity. The officer was treated at Newport Hospital, released the same day, and is recovering at home. The department has not released the officer’s name. Brendan Norris, 27, of Newport, was killed aboard the boat. A firearm was recovered.

The chief was asked how many officers fired and who fired the fatal shot. He declined to answer either. Rhode Island State Police and the Attorney General’s Office have the investigation, which is how Rhode Island handles every police shooting. The officers who fired are on administrative leave.

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