HARLEM, N.Y. (WPIX) — New York Police officer Wilbert Mora has died from injuries sustained during a shooting Friday evening at a Harlem apartment building, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced on Tuesday.
“It’s with great sadness I announce the passing of Police Officer Wilbert Mora. Wilbert is 3 times a hero. 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,” Sewell said on Twitter.
The 27-year-old police officer was shot in the head and underwent at least one surgery to alleviate swelling in his brain, law enforcement sources told Nexstar’s WPIX on Saturday.
Mora and NYPD officer Jason Rivera, 22, were responding to a domestic incident between a mother and her adult son at an apartment on 135th Street Friday evening when they were ambushed, police said. After speaking with the mother and another son at the front of the apartment, Mora and Rivera went down a narrow hallway, where 47-year-old Lashawn McNeil opened a bedroom door and fired, striking both officers, police said.
Both were rushed to Harlem Hospital, located on the same block as the apartment, and Rivera was pronounced dead Friday night. Police had described Mora’s condition on Friday as critical, and Sewell had said he was fighting for his life.
Meanwhile, McNeil tried to flee the apartment but was shot several times by a third officer who had remained with his mother toward the front of the apartment, authorities said. McNeil, who was on probation for a narcotics conviction, died at Harlem Hospital on Monday, Mayor Eric Adams said.
A Glock .45 was recovered near a back bedroom inside the apartment, police said. It was rigged at the bottom with a high-quantity magazine capable of holding up to 40 bullets.
