You are reading

Donovan Richards Hosting Vigil at Queens Borough Hall Wednesday for Slain NYPD Cops

A vigil is being held Sunday for slain NYPD Police Officers Jason Rivera, 22, and Wilbert Mora, 27. (Photos: NYPD)

A vigil is being held Wednesday for slain NYPD Police Officers Jason Rivera, 22, and Wilbert Mora, 27. (Photos: NYPD)

Feb. 1, 2022 By Michael Dorgan

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards is hosting a candlelight vigil Wednesday for the two young police officers who were killed in Manhattan last month while responding to a domestic disturbance.

The vigil will take place at 5:30 p.m. on the steps of the Queens Borough Hall, located at 120-55 Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens.

Elected officials, community leaders, as well as leadership from the NYPD and its fraternal organizations are expected to attend the event, Richards said.

The vigil will remember Police Officers Jason Rivera, 22, and Wilbert Mora, 27, who were gunned down inside a Harlem apartment on Jan. 21. They were shot by Lashawn McNeil, 47 — a career criminal whose mother had called police for help after arguing with her son.

“The senseless slayings of Detective Rivera and Officer Mora — two public servants who dedicated their careers to inclusive, community-first policing — was a gut-punch felt across New York City, including right here in Queens,” Richards said in a statement Tuesday.

Police Officer Sumit Sulan, pictured, fatally shot Lashawn McNeil during the Jan. 21 incident. (Sulan is pictured in a Jan. 2 tweet by the 32nd Precinct after officers recovered a gun from a domestic dispute call

Richards said the event will also show support for Police Officer Sumit Sulan, a Queens resident who fatally shot McNeil at the scene, according to published reports.

Sulan survived the incident.

Sulan joined the force in April and had been assigned to observe Rivera and Mora during the domestic disturbance call, according to reports.

“We will also show our support for our fellow Queens resident, Officer Sulan, as he copes with this unimaginable tragedy, as well as all our NYPD first responders who bravely put their lives on the line to protect us every single day.”

Richards said that attendees will call for an end to gun violence.

The vigil will be held on the same day that Officer Mora’s funeral takes place at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. He will then be buried at Calvary Cemetery.

Last week, thousands of police officers lined 5th Avenue for Officer Rivera’s funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Rivera has been posthumously promoted to Detective First-Grade.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Burglary crew sought for targeting drugstores in five different Queens precincts: NYPD

Police from five Queens precincts are looking for a pair of burglars who targeted independent mom-and-pop drugstores from Fresh Meadows to Astoria throughout December.

The two men allegedly broke into three drugstores in three different neighborhoods in a half-hour during the morning of Sunday, Dec. 15. While one stood guard outside a drugstore at 63-09 39th Avenue in Woodside, his partner broke through the glass front door at 5:50 a.m. Police from the 108th Precinct reported that he removed $400 in cash before leaving.

Rego Park man killed in Bayside chain-reaction crash on Christmas Eve: NYPD

For the second time in less than a week, a motorist was struck and killed after getting out of their vehicle where the Clearview Expressway merges with the Long Island Expressway in Bayside.

The latest fatal collision occurred on the morning of Tuesday, Dec. 24, after a Rego Park man was involved in a crash at around 8:50 a.m. near the northbound ramp of the Clearview Expressway at the westbound entrance to the LIE.