NYC Officers Shot: Gunman dies from wounds, NYPD says
NEW YORK - A man who opened fire with a .45-caliber handgun equipped with a high-capacity drum magazine, killing an NYPD officer and critically wounding another in a narrow apartment hallway in Harlem last week, has died, police said.
Lashawn McNeil, 47, who was shot and wounded during the fatal encounter Friday night, died on Monday at Harlem Hospital, the NYPD confirmed.
Three police officers had responded to an emergency call from an apartment on West 135th Street from a woman saying her adult son — McNeil — had become "problematic" on Friday night, Mayor Eric Adams said last week.
The officers spoke with the woman and another person in the front of the apartment, police said. Neither said anything about McNeil, who was in a back bedroom, having a weapon, police said.
Police Officer Jason Rivera and Police Wilbert Mora began walking down a narrow hallway to check on McNeil, who swung open the door and began shooting, police said. Rivera and Mora were hit and fell to the floor before they could defend themselves, police said.
As McNeil tried to get away, the third officer, who had stayed with McNeil's mother, shot McNeil, wounding him in the head and arm, Chief of Detectives James Essig said.
Vigil for police officers
Several members of New York's clergy led residents and officers in prayers outside the 32 Precinct station house on Monday night. They paid tribute to Police Officer Jason Rivera, who was killed in a shooting, and Police Wilbert Mora, who was gravely wounded and remains on life support.
McNeil had a 2003 drug conviction in New York City. He also had several out-of-state arrests. In 1998, he was arrested in South Carolina on suspicion of unlawfully carrying a pistol, but records show the matter was later dismissed. In 2002, he was arrested in Pennsylvania on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, Essig said.
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McNeil had been married but the couple separated nearly two decades ago, according to Theresa Noa, who is married to his ex-wife's brother. She said McNeil had four children from that marriage.
Police said the gun used in Friday’s shooting, a .45-caliber Glock pistol with a high-capacity drum magazine capable of holding up to 40 extra rounds, had been stolen in Baltimore in 2017.
On Saturday, detectives searching the apartment found an assault-style rifle under McNeil's mattress, police said on Twitter.
"A day after Officers Rivera and Mora were shot in Harlem, your NYPD detectives were still on the scene executing a court-authorized search which lead to the discovery of this loaded AR-15 assault weapon under the suspect's mattress," the NYPD tweeted.
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