A second policeman, 27, died of his injuries on Tuesday, victim like one of his colleagues of an exchange of fire on Friday in Harlem, a tragedy which puts pressure on the new Democratic mayor of New York , Eric Adams.
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“It is with great sadness that I announce the death of Police Officer Wilbert Mora,” said New York Police Chief Keechant Sewell.
“At age 27, he was murdered in the line of duty, he fought until the end,” added the New York police account, NYPD News, on Twitter.
Friday evening, this police officer was shot and wounded during an intervention in an apartment in the Harlem district, at the call of a mother confronted with a violent son. His 22-year-old colleague, Jason Rivera, was killed instantly by the shots of the suspect, a 47-year-old man who died of his injuries on Monday.
According to American media, this incident raised to five the number of law enforcement officers affected by firearms in the megalopolis of nearly 9 million inhabitants since January 1, the date of swearing in of new Mayor Eric Adams, a right-wing Democrat and former police officer, elected on security promises.
The elected official, the second African-American mayor in the history of New York, has promised to act more firmly against the proliferation of firearms. On Monday, he notably promised to restore plainclothes police patrols, “anti-crime units” renamed “anti-gun units” which had been abolished in 2020 after the death of the African-American George Floyd, killed by a police officer in Minneapolis.
These police officers were feared, when Michael Bloomberg was mayor (2002-2013), for their controversial searches of young Blacks and Hispanics suspected of carrying weapons.
In addition to attacks on police officers, the largest American city has faced a series of violent acts which have caused a stir in recent days. On January 14, still in the Harlem district, a 19-year-old Puerto Rican was shot dead by a robber in the fast food restaurant where she worked. The next day, a 40-year-old Asian-American woman was killed by a mentally ill homeless man who pushed her onto a subway track as a train entered Times Square station.
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