Man who shot Mepham grad sentenced to life

A Brooklyn man who shot a Mepham High School graduate in the head and killed another woman was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2012 incidents, Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes said.

Hynes announced on July 23 that Luis Ortiz, 22, received a life sentence from Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Albert Tomei after he was convicted of first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and menacing a police officer on July 3. Ortiz faced criminal charges after he shot Kevin Brennan, a New York City police officer and 2001 Mepham alumnus, in the head on Jan. 31, 2012. He also shot and killed a woman earlier that month.

At 1:45 p.m. on Jan. 1, Hynes said, Ortiz robbed and shot Shannon McKinney six times at close range across from the Bushwick Gardens Housing Projects. McKinney was killed, and Hynes added that her murder was captured on surveillance video.

Thirty days later, Brennan and his partners responded to a call of shots fired at 140 Moore St., at about 9:10 pm. Brennan chased Ortiz into 370 Bushwick Ave., where Ortiz shot Brennan in the head.

The gun was recovered outside the apartment, where Ortiz was arrested. Hynes said Ortiz’s DNA was on the gun and that the incident was captured on surveillance video. He noted that ballistics evidence confirmed that the gun used to kill McKinney was also used to shoot Brennan.

Brennan, who joined the New York City Police Department in 2005, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center on the night of the shooting. Surgeons removed a bullet from his skull, according to a statement released by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the time.

Brennan has since returned to work, now for the NYPD’s intelligence division. However, he and his wife, Janet, said in court that the 29-year-old sustained damage to his spine and peripheral vision.

Lewis Lieberman, first deputy bureau chief of the Investigations Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Melissa Carvajal prosecuted the case. They did not comment after the sentencing.

Brennan now lives in Garden City Park with his wife and daughter, Maeve, who was born six weeks before he was shot.