A 22-year-old police officer was killed and another seriously injured by bullets during an intervention Friday evening for violence in an apartment in the Harlem neighborhood, announced the police and the mayor of the city Eric Adams.
The latter also called on the federal state for help in stopping the proliferation of firearms. The tragic incident took place when three officers responded to a late afternoon call from a mother dealing with an abusive son at 135th Street in upper Manhattan, police said.
Arrived on site, the 47-year-old man “suddenly opened fire on them. In an instant, the life of a 22-year-old young man came to a halt and that of another was forever altered”lamented the head of the New York Police Department (NYPD), Keechant Sewell, from the hospital in Harlem.
Tonight, we mourn the loss of a hero officer
— a son, husband, and friend. Only 22 years old, Police Officer
Jason Rivera was murdered in the line of duty. We vow to
#NeverForgetJason as his fellow Finest vow to honor his
tremendous legacy of service & the ultimate sacrifice. pic.twitter.com/5zsx45XiM4— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews)
January 22, 2022
According to several media, the suspect was also killed by return fire, which the authorities did not confirm during their press briefing. This is the third time this week that a police officer has been shot in the city of nearly nine million people. In the two previous incidents, the lives of the police officers are not in danger.
“We are going to find these weapons and we are going to find those who bring them back and who use them”
The mayor of New York, a Democrat, a former police officer, in office since January 1 after being elected on promises to fight against crime, called on all forces in the city to unite to counter gun violence . “We need Washington to join us and act now to stop the proliferation of weapons in New York”he launched.
“We are going to find these weapons and we are going to find those who bring them back and who use them”he promised.
After experiencing an increase in violent crime during the year 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, crime figures stabilized on a slight increase in 2021 in the largest city in the United States.
Two women killed
But New York has been rocked in the past few days by two new violent deaths. On Saturday, Michelle Go, a 40-year-old American, member of the Asian community, died after being pushed onto a subway track by a homeless man with psychiatric disorders, as a train entered the busy station of Times Square. The day before, a 19-year-old Puerto Rican, Kristal Bayron-Nieves, was shot dead by a robber at the checkout of a Burger King in the East Harlem district, still on the island of Manhattan.
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