How the shooting of NYPD officers unfolded in Harlem on Friday
Members of the NYPD survey scene of shooting at a West 13th Street building in Harlem, where one police officer was shot dead and another critically injured Friday night. Credit: Craig Ruttle
- The NYPD received a 911 call at 6:15 p.m. Friday to respond to a one-bedroom apartment at 119 W. 135 St. where a woman said she was having an argument with her son, Lashawn McNeil. The mother mentioned no injuries and did not list any weapons in the apartment, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said.
- About 6:30 p.m. Friday, officers from the 32nd Precinct, Jason Rivera, 22, Wilbert Mora, 27, and a third unidentified officer entered the ground-floor apartment where they spoke with McNeil’s mother and her other son.
- The mother told the three officers that Lashawn McNeil, 47, was waiting in a back bedroom. The three officers did not know McNeil had a stolen Glock 45 handgun, with a high-capacity magazine holding an additional 40 rounds.
- A narrow 30-foot hallway led to the bedroom where McNeil was waiting. Rivera and Mora walked down the hallway while the third officer stayed with the man's mother, Essig said.
- "As the first officers approached the bedroom the door swings open and numerous shots are fired, striking both officers, one fatally," Essig said.
- "As the perpetrator attempts to exit, he is confronted by the third officer, who fires two rounds, striking him in the right arm and head," Essig said.
- Both officers were taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, where Rivera was pronounced dead Friday night. Mora was in extremely critical condition Saturday.
- Rivera had been on the force for about 14 months, starting in November 2020. He had logged 15 arrests, including two felonies, in his career and had been assigned to the 32nd Precinct in May.
- Mora has been with the NYPD since October 2018 and was assigned to the 32nd Precinct about a year later. He had logged a total of 35 arrests, including 11 felonies.
- Neither officer had a disciplinary record listed by the NYPD.
- McNeil was hospitalized in critical condition on Saturday; police had initially said he was dead.
- NYPD officials said McNeil was on probation for a 2003 felony drug arrest.
- He also has four prior arrests outside of New York City.
- McNeil had one arrest in South Carolina for unlawful possession of a weapon in 1998, one charge of assaulting a police officer in Pennsylvania in 2002 and two other drug cases, according to the NYPD and court records.
- McNeil's family members did not know how long he had been in New York City.
- The gun police recovered Friday in the Harlem apartment had been reported stolen in Baltimore, where McNeil's family said he had been living.
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
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