At just 22 years old, rookie police officer Jason Rivera was shot dead last night responding to an incident of domestic violence in Harlem, and his fellow Hispanic Wilbert Mora (27) was seriously injured.
According to authorities, Lashawn McNeil, 47, allegedly opened a door at the apartment at 119 West 135th Street and shot Rivera and Mora. The fact raised alarms in the NYPD, after three police officers had already been shot this year that is just beginning, with the violence overflowing in the streets and the Metro, despite the promises of the new mayor, Eric Adams, who is also a former police officer.
“It is our city against the assassins”, Adams said during an emotional news conference at Harlem Hospital, where Mora was held. “This was not just an attack on three brave officers. This was an attack on New York City. It was an attack on the children and families of this city.”
Last night’s tragedy began when three police officers responded to a 911 call for domestic disturbance from a woman who said she needed help with her child around 6:15 p.m.
After Rivera and Mora were shot, the third officer fired shots, hitting McNeil in the head and arm as he tried to run away. The suspect was admitted in critical condition to Harlem Hospital, police said.
“We are in mourning and angry: the NYPD, the city of New York, all of us”
Keechant Sewell, comisionada NYPD
Rivera, the rookie cop killed last night while responding to a domestic violence call in Harlem, had joined the NYPD to “improve the relationship between the community and the police,” wrote in a letter obtained by New York Post.
Before joining the NYPD, he said his experience growing up in Inwood, where police-community relations were strained during the stop-and-frisk era, inspired him to become the first in his family to join law enforcement. .
“When I applied to become a police officer, I knew this was the career for me,” he wrote in a November 2020 letter to the commanding officer of the NYPD academy. “Coming from an immigrant family, I will be the first to say that I am a member of the NYPD, the largest police force in the world,” Rivera wrote.
Mayor Adams implored New Yorkers to help “save our city” after the shooting that left Rivera dead. New York police officers will wear black sashes on their shields in his memory, Commissioner Keechant Sewell said last night at the same press conference.
“A son, husband, officer and friend was killed because he did what we asked him to do… “I am struggling to find the words to express the tragedy we are enduring. We are in mourning and angry: the NYPD, New York City, all of us.”
Following the rise in armed violence in 2020 and 2021, particularly among young gang members and/or victims, the year 2022 has started with the same trend, representing a great challenge for the new mayor Adams, former NYPD officer.
eldiariony.com
Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.