Defiant Thug Cuffed in Cop Shooting Yells 'I Love Latin Kings' in Show For Angry Posse
A defiant thug who nearly killed a brave Brooklyn cop played to the cameras and his cop-hating posse, as he was hauled in handcuffs out of a police stationhouse.
“Yeah, take a picture of me,” a grinning Luis (Baby) Ortiz said Wednesday as about a dozen cheering friends and family gathered outside the 90th Precinct.
Sporting corn rows and dressed in a black hoodie, Ortiz yelled, “I love the Latin Kings!”
The 21-year-old gangbanger and career criminal then smiled, showing not a shred of remorse for Officer Kevin Brennan who was recovering from a gunshot wound to the head at Bellevue Hospital. He blew air kisses at his applauding fan club, telling them he loved them before cops stuffed him into the backseat of an unmarked police car.
“F--k the police!” a woman screamed, as she banged on the back of the car as it drove off. “I hate f-----g cops!”
The vile supporters stalked off into the night.
THE RAP SHEET: SUSPECT HAD 14 PRIOR ARRESTS ON HIS CRIMINAL RECORD. Ortiz’s heartless display of defiance came as chilling new details emerged of the dramatic struggle that ended with Brennan bleeding in the hallway of a Bushwick housing project — with a bullet wound to his head. The bullet just missed piercing his brain and Brennan is expected to recover.
The officer’s brush with death came around 9 p.m. Tuesday after he chased Ortiz into the hallway. Charging like a linebacker for his beloved New York Giants, Brennan tackled Ortiz, police said.
“We do have some video that I’ve seen,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said after visiting the critically wounded Brennan. “You see the officer right on top of this individual, or an effort to tackle him.”
Brennan had his gun out, Kelly added. But so did Ortiz, a knock-off .38 caliber Colt. Police said Ortiz fired the gun earlier that night. Before the clash with Brennan, he was locked in a staredown with an unidentified man and squeezed off two shots. No one was hit.
And while the 6-feet-tall Brennan had 3 inches on the 5-feet-9 gunman, Ortiz managed to wriggle out of his grasp.
“They struggle and fall in sort of an alcove where you can’t actually see the shot, but you see Ortiz with his arm around the officer’s head and then he’s shot,” Kelly said. “He doesn’t move after he’s shot.”
Ortiz pushed Brennan’s body off of him and then bolted out the front door. In a panic, Ortiz ran to a pal’s pad in the Bushwick Houses — and left the bleeding 29-year-old officer in the hallway.
“He said, ‘I’ve done something,’” said Laura Ortiz, who insisted she was not related to the suspect. “He told my nephew, ‘I did something’ and he was worried to death.”
That’s where cops found the cringing Ortiz three hours later.
Ortiz is charged with attempted murder of a police officer, assault on a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon, and menacing. He was waiting to be arraigned Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, Brennan’s wife Janet, 27, was by his side and his family was breathing a big sigh of relief.
Waiting for Brennan at his sister-in-law’s place was the apple of his eye — his 6-week-old daughter, Maeve.
“Things have been going so well for them,” brother-in-law Robert Masicq said. “New healthy baby. He just got promoted to sergeant. Even the Giants are in the Super Bowl.”
Brennan, assigned to the Brooklyn North Anti-Crime Unit — has passed the sergeants exam and is awaiting promotion, police brass said.
Relatives said Brennan was talking, but Kelly said the brave Brooklyn cop was drifting “in and out of consciousness” when he saw him.
“That’s because of the morphine, I’m told,” he said. “He was obviously in a lot of pain and continues to be in pain.”
Brennan’s wife called her dad in suburban Chicago from the hospital after the shooting and told him the impact of the bullet “was like getting hit with a sledgehammer.”
“She was shaken up, but she was holding it together,” Joseph Dempsey, 70, said. “She told me that his peripheral vision was affected and he was in a lot of pain.”
“If needed, I will fly out,” added Janet’s mom, Marie.
Janet is the youngest of 14 kids. Her daughter is her parents’ 27th grandchild.
“She’s a real beauty,” the proud grandpa said.
Brennan is beloved by his in-laws — and has also passed muster with his Marine brother-in-law, Joe Dempsey.
“He’s a professional, a genuine guy,” said the 37-year-old leatherneck, who is about to be deployed to Afghanistan. “He fit right into my family and that’s pretty hard when you come from a big family.”
Brennan is expected to remain at Bellevue for several more weeks and may need some therapy after that, relatives said.
“He was shot at very close range,” Kelly said. “It entered... the right rear portion of his skull. There was a very large hole there.”
Dr. Eli Kleinman, the NYPD’s supervising chief surgeon, said doctors were able to treat Brennan in the emergency room by numbing the wound and “coaxing” the bullet out with their fingers.
There were three bullets left in the chamber of Ortiz’s revolver, Kelly said.
Ortiz may be short, but his neighbors in the Bushwick Houses said he’s a terror. And police sources said he was arrested as a juvenile in 2006 for assaulting another police officer.
Court records and other sources revealed Ortiz has 14 arrests on his rap sheet, everything from gang assault in upstate Goshen to torching trash cans around his Hewes St. building.
Ortiz was a person of interest in the New Year’s Day killing of 34-year-old Shannon (Sham) McKinney in front of a Brooklyn supermarket.
A police source said a video places Ortiz at the scene of the crime — and a gun in his hand.
“Ortiz steps over and puts one in his head to make sure he is dead,” the source said. “He shoots him point blank.”
Ortiz’s aunt insisted he was no killer.
“He’s not the type of guy who goes around trying to kill anyone,” said Shirley Ortiz, 35. “He’d been arrested for drugs, street stuff but nothing like what the police are saying.”
Drucila Ortiz, who also claims no relation to the suspect and lives in the building where Brennan was shot, said good riddance to bad rubbish.
“I’m happy they caught him,” said Ortiz, 28. “My daughter’s scared to come outside.... I hate him.”
Another resident of the Bushwick houses, who would only give his name as Ricardo said Luis Ortiz “is well known around here.”
“It’s about time something bad happened to him,” he said. “He deserved it.”
fvck Newsday and the cvnts at 1 Police Plaza who fall all over themselves to give out info to the press about P.O.'s and detectives.