As soon as injured Police Officer Kevin Brennan got to Bellevue Hospital, where he was rushed after being shot in the head Tuesday night, he asked for his newborn daughter.
“We were at the hospital, he was still bandaged and getting CAT-scanned,” Robert Masi, Brennan’s brother-in-law, told Metro this afternoon. “He was conscious and talking. He asked for his daughter. She was definitely the first thing on his mind.”
According to Masi, who was at Bellevue Tuesday night Brennan asked about his daughter before he
underwent emergency, life-saving surgery to remove the bullet from his
head.
Brennan remains in critical, but stable condition, as he recovers from a bullet that came within inches of his brain and lodged between his skin and skull. Brennan, 29, was shot at about 9 p.m. Tuesday while responding to a call of shots fired at the Bushwick Houses, a public housing complex in Brooklyn.
The heroic officer has yet to see his first-born child, Maeve, born only six weeks before last night’s shooting.
Masi said he and his wife have been watching the infant at their New Hyde Park home while Brennan’s young wife, Janet remains at the side of her husband’s hospital bed. Officers at the hospital told Metro there’s been a steady stream of police visitors there all day.
Masi said having a cop in the family means you are always dreading that call.
“This is something you think about and hope never happens,” said Masi. “And when it does you have to circle the wagons and hope for the best.”
“He’s a great guy, he’s a dedicated police officer,” continued Masi of his brother-in-law, who has served on the NYPD since 2005. “He puts his life on the line every day.”
NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly called Brennan’s survival “a miracle.”
“This officer was shot at point-blank range with a .38 caliber round,” Kelly said, who visited Brennan last night at the hospital. “Thank God he’s alive.”
Masi said Janet is doing as well as can be expected.
“It was a tough call to get. Any young wife and mother would be nervous and we’re very proud of her,” said Masi. “It’s an amazing story, an inch away from his brain …”
He said the family is happy, but remains cautious.
“You’re never out of the woods until you are out of the woods,” said Masi. “It’s been good news so far and hopefully it will just get better.”
– Alison Bowen contributed
