Real-life gunshots wound kung-fu-flick actor
By JESSICA SIMEONE and TODD VENEZIA
Last Updated: 7:39 AM, September 8, 2011
Posted: 2:41 AM, September 8, 2011
The streets of Harlem turned more violent than a kung-fu movie late Monday, when an actor from the 1980s cult classic “The Last Dragon” was shot in the stomach by a pal, sources said.
Leo O’Brien, 40, who played Richie Green in the Berry Gordy-produced flick, was blasted three times in front of 255 W. 127th St.just before midnight Monday.
The first two shots from the 9mm handgun hit O’Brien in the stomach, and the third clipped his arm as he grabbed for the gun. Miraculously, he survived.
“At the time, I was walking up the block to the barber get a shave,” O’Brien told The Post from Harlem Hospital. “He just came up and shot me. No words ... Then he started crying and ran.”
“What I imagine is, we had a verbal altercation prior to this, but it wasn’t about anything substantial.”
Suspect Travis Breckenridge, 50, was arrested after people who knew both men from the neighborhood called cops, the actor said.
When cops went to arrest Breckenridge at his home, he tried to throw the gun out of the window but was spotted by officers, police said.
He faces charges including attempted murder and aggravated assault.
O’Brien, who now runs a convenience store and works in music production, had only had a few roles after appearing in the campy 1985 flick. He says he expects to recover from his wounds and one day get back into the movies.