'3 Times A Hero': Wilbert Mora Mourned At St. Patrick's Cathedral

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Wilbert Mora, the 27-year-old officer killed in last month's shooting in a Harlem apartment, was remembered as a man who "loved family, friends and the people of New York City" in his funeral Wednesday at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

The memorial for Mora came five days after his partner, 22-year-old Jason Rivera, was memorialized in his own service at the Midtown cathedral. Both young officers were shot on Jan. 21 after responding to a dispute in an apartment on West 135th Street; Rivera died that night, while Mora succumbed to his wounds four days later.

"Is it any mystery that on this cold day in February, there are thousands and thousands of people from the inside of this cathedral to the outside, who right now are lining the roads, the highways, tunnels, overpasses and bridges, all the way to Wilbert's tomb in Queens?" a priest said at the start of Wednesday's service.

"To salute Wilbert one more time."

An East Harlem resident, Mora was born in the Dominican Republic 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."

Mora was "three times a hero," according to Commissioner Keechant Sewell: in addition to his decision to join the NYPD and his actions on that fateful night, Mora also donated his organs to five people.

Tuesday morning, Mora's body was brought from Riverdale Funeral Home in Inwood down to St. Patrick's, where a viewing was held starting at 1 p.m. His funeral on Wednesday, like Rivera's, brought throngs of fellow law enforcement officers to St. Patrick's, as well as officials like Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams.

Adams noted that Mora was the youngest of four children, adding that he would pray for his grieving parents.

"I thank you for sharing your son with our city," Adams said.

The mayor also addressed officers of the 32nd Precinct in Harlem, with whom Mora and Rivera had served, and whom Adams had overheard at Harlem Hospital in the hours after the shooting.

"I saw you say, over and over again, 'We tried,'" Adams said. "Yes, you do try every day, and you succeed."

The accused gunman, Lashawn McNeil, lived in Baltimore but had been summoned to New York by his mother. He was shot by a third officer inside the apartment and died three days later.

The deaths of both officers triggered an outpouring of grief throughout the city, and prompted Adams to speed up his sweeping public safety agenda, from a revival of controversial plainclothes NYPD units to harsher treatment for teenagers caught with guns.

Meanwhile, residents of the block where the shooting happened told Patch that they felt traumatized and stigmatized in the ensuing days, grieving not only for the fallen officers but also for the mother whose 911 call set the tragedy in motion.

Related coverage:

• 'He Was So Young': Officer Jason Rivera's Funeral Held In Midtown
• 2nd Officer Dies From Harlem Shooting, Commissioner Says
• Tenants Of Harlem Block Where Officers Were Shot Feel 'All Alone'