New York.- thousands of police lined the pews of St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Friday to honor the fallen officer Jason Riverawho was shot with his partner last week in an ambush that left the New York Police Department and to the city.
Mayor Eric Adams, himself a retired police captain, told those gathered that he saw an echo of himself in the officer killed that he had joined a department he considered flawed in hopes of improving it.
“He did it for the right reasons: He wanted to make a difference,” said Adams, a Democrat who also issued a message of support for a force that, like others police Departments, has come under fire amid a national reckoning with policing race and what public safety should mean.
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“There were days when I felt like the public didn’t understand or appreciate the work we were doing, and I want to say to the officers: They do. They do,” he said. “These two good men watered the tree of security that allows us to sit in the shade from the burning sun of violence.”
The officers came from everywhere to honor Rivera, 22who had just married and was just beginning his second year of service with the force.
“It really doesn’t matter what uniform we wear,” said Master Police Officer Tammy Russel of Fairfax County, Virginia. “These are all our brothers and sisters. … Sadness everywhere.”
Rivera and his partner, Officer Wilbert Mora, were fatally wounded. on January 21 by an armed man who ambushed them in a hallway while responding to a family dispute. Mora’s funeral will be held next week, also at St. Patrick’s.
Both officers grew up in the city’s ethnic enclaves and hoped to help the department build bridges with the community. Friends and fellow police officers describe them as caring and dedicated.
Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan presided over the service Rivera, performed in Spanish and English in recognition of his Dominican heritage. A day earlier, ordinary citizens joined thousands of uniformed men in the cathedral for the Rivera’s wake
New York Governor Kathy Hochulsaid flags at state buildings would fly at half-staff from sunrise on the day of Rivera’s funeral to sunset on the day of Mora’s funeral on Wednesday.
“It’s an emotional moment,” said the retired police officer. nypd, Sean Flanagan, who played the bagpipes outside the cathedral. “We honor our own, we take care of our own.”
The gunman, who was shot by a third officer, died earlier in the week. Authorities are still investigating why he shot the officers.
Before Friday, the last officer of the nypd who died in the line of duty was Anastasios Tsakos, who was struck by a suspected drunk driver in May 2021 while assisting officers at the scene of a previous crash on a Queens highway.
The last NYPD officer to be fatally shot in the line of duty, Brian Mulkeen, was hit by friendly fire while struggling with a gunman after chasing and shooting him in the Bronx in September 2019.
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Two officers, Randolph Holder and Brian Moore, were killed in separate shootings in 2015. The year before, officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were shot and killed by a man who ambushed them while they were sitting in their patrol car in Brooklyn.
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