Member-only story
Shooting Death of Rookie NYPD Cop Shakes the Big Apple
“It’s our city against the killers,” Mayor Eric Adams warned his fellow New Yorkers. Can he turn things around?
“It is our city against the killers,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told the press on Friday, speaking from a Harlem hospital as an NYPD officer lay inside, fighting for his life: “This was an attack on the city of New York.”
“It is time for us to save our city,” Mayor Adams continued before promising: “No one will divide this city with their violence.”
After the shooting death of 22-year old rookie NYPD officer Jason Rivera last week, and the critical wounding of his 27-year old partner Wilbert Mora, the outpouring of community support has been overwhelming. Rivera’s funeral, which turned NYC into a sea of blue, was a rare moment of unity in a city increasingly beset by violence and tragedy.
“This system continues to fail us,” Officer Rivera’s widow told a packed St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Friday to a standing ovation. “We are not safe anymore, not even the members of the service.”
It is a call being echoed from nearly all sides in New York City, nowhere more strongly than from the Mayor’s office. Mayor Adams himself admitted recently that not even he feels safe on the NYC subway anymore after a woman was pushed in front of a train two…