2nd Officer Dies From Harlem Shooting, Commissioner Says

HARLEM, NY — A second police officer has died after being shot Friday in a Harlem apartment, the NYPD announced Tuesday.

Wilbert Mora, 27, died Tuesday, according to Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell.

No other details about Mora's death were immediately available. He had been transferred to NYU Langone Hospital on Sunday after spending nearly two days at Harlem Hospital, where he was in grave condition with gunshot wounds.

Mora's fellow officer, 22-year-old Jason Rivera, died shortly after Friday's shooting inside an apartment on West 135th Street. The alleged gunman, Lashawn McNeil, died on Monday after being shot by a third officer in the apartment.

"Wilbert is 3 times a hero," Commissioner Sewell said in a tweet Tuesday afternoon. "For choosing a life of service. For sacrificing his life to protect others. For giving life even in death through organ donation."

Mora, like Rivera, had ties to the Dominican Republic: according to Newsday, Mora was born on the island, before moving to the U.S. at a young age with his family.

"He took a lot of pride in being a police officer, especially being a young Hispanic man," longtime friend Rashad Mujumder told Newsday. "He wanted to be someone people could look up to."

McNeil's mother called police to the apartment Friday evening during an argument with her son, who had come to New York from Baltimore to help her as she recovered from surgery, according to the New York Times.

As police walked down a narrow hallway inside the apartment, a bedroom door swung open and McNeil opened fire, hitting Rivera and Mora, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig. The third officer then shot McNeil.

Both Mora and Rivera were assigned to Harlem's 32nd Precinct.

Patrick J. Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association union, said in a statement Tuesday that Mora "will live on in the heart of every New York City police officer from this day forward."

"We are called upon to put ourselves between evil and the good people of this city. Police Officer Mora showed us what it means to carry out our mission with courage, skill and humanity," Lynch said.