Jan. 22 (UPI) — A shooting in Harlem has left one New York City police officer dead and a second injured after responding to a domestic disturbance.
Police said the shooting happened around 6:30 p.m. Friday after a woman called police during a fight with her son at a Harlem residence. When the officers entered a room in the apartment to speak with the son, gunfire rang out.
New York Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell identified the slain officer as Jason Rivera, 22, who joined the force in November 2020.
“I’m struggling to find the words to express the tragedy we are enduring,” she said during a news conference. “We’re mourning, and we’re angry.”
She said the injured officer, Wilbert Mora, 27, was in critical condition at Harlem Hospital. A third officer was uninjured.
The gunman, Lashawn McNeil, 47, was shot by police in the arm and head and was in critical condition at the hospital.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was at a vigil for a baby injured by gunfire at the time of the police shooting, also spoke at the Harlem news conference.
“It is our city against the killers, this was just not an attack on three brave officers, this was an attack on the city of New York — it is an attack on the children and families of this city,” he said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she was “horrified” by the shooting.
“We must urgently confront the plague of gun violence in our state. Too many lives are being lost, and too many New Yorkers are living in fear. This is a crisis. That’s why earlier today, I extended an Executive Order declaring a gun violence State of Emergency,” she tweeted.
