Police: Stolen gun used to shoot at cops traced to Stamford attorney

Ridgely Brown, 72, was arrested by police for failing to report to authorities that six of his pistols had been stolen last year. One of the guns turned up on a man who tried to shoot a Stamford narcotics officer on Seaton Road on Tuesday night. less Ridgely Brown, 72, was arrested by police for failing to report to authorities that six of his pistols had been stolen last year. One of the guns turned up on a man who tried to shoot a Stamford narcotics ... more Photo: Stamford Police Department / Contributed Photo: Stamford Police Department / Contributed Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Police: Stolen gun used to shoot at cops traced to Stamford attorney 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

STAMFORD — Police said a Stamford family attorney was held overnight for not reporting that he had six guns stolen from him last year, one of which allegedly was used by a felon Tuesday to try to shoot a Stamford narcotics officer.

Ridgely Whitmore Brown, 72, was held in lieu of a $500,000 court-appearance bond after being charged early Wednesday evening with six counts each of first-degree reckless endangerment and felony failure to report a lost or stolen firearm. Police are looking at a 30-year-old woman, who Brown met at Harry O’s strip club and was having a sexual relationship with, as a person of interest in the thefts of the guns.

Capt. Richard Conklin said police at the scene of the attempted shooting of narcotics officer Bryan Cooper at Seaton Road on Tuesday figured out that the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard, five-shot revolver used by the suspect had been reported stolen by Brown a day or two before the shots were fired. Police said Cooper was nearly shot by Lawrence Moore, 30, who was about to be busted for possession of fentanyl, crack cocaine and marijuana. He is being held on a $1,050,000 court-appearance bond.

What officers didn’t know at the time was that Brown, who has a family law practice in Stamford, had six pistols stolen from him sometime in October and one of those guns turned up on a Bridgeport suspect in mid-March. Conklin said Bridgeport police and an inspector from the Golden Hill courthouse in Bridgeport told Brown in May to report the guns stolen, but he did not do it until Monday, the day before Moore allegedly fired on Cooper.

“There is a law that you have 72 hours to make the official report to authorities that a gun has been stolen,” Conklin said.

Stamford police charged Brown under a new law that makes it a felony offense to intentionally withhold the report of a firearm being lost or stolen, Conklin said.

According to Brown’s four-page arrest affidavit, the attorney played fast and loose with his armory. He said after he began dating and having a sexual relationship last year with a 30-year-old woman he met while visiting Harry O’s, one of Stamford’s three strip clubs, the woman began visiting his home with a duffel bag and the guns began disappearing.

Barnett told the police he believes that she has the guns and that she is a Bloods gang member from Bridgeport, the affidavit said.

While he has a gun safe, he told police that while cleaning and working on the guns, he would leave his pistols on the kitchen table when the woman was visiting. When he left to run errands, he noticed the guns were missing upon his return. Brown said that he was trying to investigate what happened to the guns himself. He said he ended up giving the woman a cell phone, but mistakenly did not remove some banking information and that was used to take $250 out of one of his bank accounts, the affidavit said.

Brown also said he was concerned about telling police about the guns because he believed that the man who was caught with his gun in Bridgeport, the woman he met at Harry O’s and her sister’s boyfriend are gang members and believes they were involved in the drive-by shooting death of 12-year-old Clinton Howell last December in Bridgeport and other deaths, the affidavit said.

As well as his state permit to carry a gun being revoked with Brown’s arrest, police seized another 19 pistols and long guns in his possession, Conklin said.

“It is very important to keep firearms secure. We see too many guns stolen from cars and others left around homes in unsecured locations. You need to secure your firearms and in the event they are stolen, you need to make a timely report to authorities,” the police captain said. “You can see how this plays in to the attempted shooting of a narcotics office and that is often the path of these stolen and missing guns. They are often diverted to criminals and used for criminal purposes.”

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com