HARLEM, Manhattan (PIX11) — The man accused of opening fire on two NYPD officers, killing one of them, inside a Harlem apartment on Friday has a lengthy criminal history, including allegedly assaulting a police officer in Pennsylvania, authorities said.
Lashawn McNeil, 47, allegedly ambushed officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora while they responded to a 911 call inside his mother’s apartment on 135th Street. Rivera, 22, died and Mora, 27, was critically injured.
Authorities said Rivera and Mora, along with a third officer, went to the apartment around 6:15 p.m. after a call came in from a woman needing help with her adult son. Authorities said the officers spoke with the woman and another son, but they did not mention a weapon was inside the home.
Rivera and Mora then walked from the front of the apartment down a narrow hallway. That’s when McNeil swung open a bedroom door and opened fire at the officers, striking them, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said.
As McNeil tried to flee, the third officer who’d stayed in the front of the apartment shot him in the head and arm, Essig said. McNeil was hospitalized in critical condition, as of early Saturday morning, an NYPD spokesperson said.
The gun, a .45-caliber Glock with a high-capacity magazine capable of holding up to 40 extra rounds, had been stolen in Baltimore in 2017, according to police.
McNeil was on probation for a 2003 drug conviction in New York City. He also had several out-of-state arrests. In 1998, he was arrested in South Carolina for unlawfully carrying a pistol, but records show the matter was later dismissed. In 2002, he was arrested in Pennsylvania for assaulting a police officer, according to Essig. His last known address is in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Speaking outside of Harlem Hospital Friday night, Mayor Eric Adams called on the federal government to do more to stop the flow of illegal guns into New York City.
“There are no gun manufacturers in New York City,” he said. “We don’t make guns here. How are we removing thousands of guns off the street and they still find their way into New York City, in the hands of people who are killers?”
This story comprises reporting from PIX11’s Sarah Vasile and The Associated Press.
