New York News

Second NYPD Officer Dies Four Days After Harlem Shooting Ambush

January 25, 2022

 

Organs of slain 27-year-old officer to be donated

By Tablet Staff

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — The second NYPD officer shot in Harlem last Friday has died, according to NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell. 

“Wilbert is 3 times a hero,” Commissioner Sewell wrote on social media. “For choosing a life of service. For sacrificing his life to protect others. For giving life even in death through organ donation. Our heads are bowed & our hearts are heavy.”

Officer Wilbert Mora, 27, was taken off life support at NYU Langone hospital in Manhattan, Jan. 25. Mora underwent two surgeries after he was shot in the head and a bullet lodged in his brain, authorities said. 

Mora and his police partner Officer Jason Rivera were gunned down during an ambush while on a domestic-violence call Jan. 21. Friday’s incident happened around 6:30 p.m. when Mora, his partner Officer Rivera, and a third officer, responded to a call from a woman who said she was fighting with her son. 

When they arrived at the apartment they were met by the woman and a second son. The woman then said the son that she was fighting with was in a bedroom at the end of the hall, according to James Essig, the chief of detectives, who gave an account of the events to the New York Times.

As Mora and Rivera approached the room, Lashawn McNeil, 47, opened fire at the officers. McNeil then tried to leave the apartment, but was shot in the arm and head by a third officer, Essig said. McNeil survived the incident, but on Monday Jan. 24, died at a Harlem Hospital. Officer Rivera died from injuries that evening.

Mora joined the department in 2018. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York visited him at the hospital on Saturday, Jan. 22. Bishop Robert Brennan of Brooklyn also offered his prayers Saturday morning to Rivera, Mora, and the entire NYPD. 

“The suffering is incomprehensible,” Bishop Brennan wrote. “Lord, please comfort them all in the NYPD.” 

This story will be updated.