The search for an alleged thief who stole a luxury sailboat from a New Jersey marina led to a deadly police shootout nearly 200 miles away in New England. Police said the suspect, Brendan Norris, stole a 40-foot sailboat from Liberty Harbor Marina in Jersey City Saturday night. Security video fro m a nearby business gave a clear image of the 27-year-old suspect. Days later, a boat matching the description of the stolen vessel was spotted by a harbormaster in Newport, Rhode Island, who had been told to keep an eye out for it. When officers pulled up alongside the boat around 9 a.m. Wednesday to take a look, a man who was on the bow of the vessel ran below deck, grabbed a gun and shot an officer, according to police. “The party armed himself with a firearm and shots were fired,” said Newport Police Chief Ryan Duffy. The officers returned fire, killing the 27-year-old Norris. Duffy said the wounded veteran officer was shot in a “lower extremity,” and was recovering at the hospital. It was not immediately clear whether there were any other individuals aboard the boat at the time, or if Norris had a gun permit. Rhode Island’s state police and attorney general’s office told NBC affiliate WJAR that they were investigating, following protocol in shootings involving police. The owner of the stolen boat told NBC New York that the alleged thief was not very wise in choosing the vessel: It stands out due to its rarity. “A 1968 Hinkley Bermuda 40, there’s only like 200 of them left in the world,” said owner Jim Bonomo. “Newport, Rhode Island, is probably the sailboat capital of the country. So if anybody got the news that this prestigious sailboat was taken, it would have been that community there.” Bonomo and police also did not know why Norris lingered at the marina. “He was literally on video on the boat on video for an hour and a half,” said Bonomo. “He actually talked to people one the dock.” The boat remains in police custody as evidence, but Bonomo was grateful he would get it back. He said he has been working on it for 10 years. Police have not given any possible motivation for why Norris took the rare vessel, nor why he would sail to Rhode Island. Norris identified himself in an online job search profile as an experienced deck hand with an obvious affinity for boats. NBC Boston’s Asher Klein contributed to this report. ...read more read less