Metro

Fellow officers overcome with grief during vigil for slain NYPD cops

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Published Jan. 27, 2022
Updated Jan. 27, 2022, 11:29 a.m. ET

Fellow officers who worked with slain NYPD cops Wilbert Mora and Jason Rivera were overcome with grief as they remembered their brothers in blue at a Wednesday night vigil outside the 32nd Precinct.

Hundreds of mourners, including New York’s Finest, members of the FDNY and people from the community, attended the emotional event at the Harlem stationhouse where Mora, 27, and Rivera, 22, served as police officers.

“His smile lit up a room,” Officer Sterling Medina said to the crowd, referring to Mora, his close pal.

Candles and flowers form a makeshift memorial honoring NYPD Officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora outside Harlem’s 32nd Precinct on Jan. 26, 2022. AP
NYPD Officer Sterling Medina (center) remembers Officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora during a vigil outside of the 32nd precinct in Harlem on Jan. 26, 2022.
NYPD Officer Sterling Medina (center) remembers Officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora during a vigil outside the 32nd Precinct in Harlem on Jan. 26, 2022. AP
A sea of NYPD officers and other mourners attend the vigil outside of the 32nd precinct in Harlem on Jan. 26, 2022.
A sea of NYPD officers and other mourners attend the vigil outside the 32nd Precinct in Harlem on Jan. 26, 2022. William C. Lopez/NYPOST

“His smile, his laugh changed everyone’s mood,” added Medina before breaking down in tears. “To know that we’re not gonna get that again, it hurts.”

Referring to Rivera, the distraught cop said he, “was my brother. I just can’t believe that God called him that day.”

Officer Charlie Ruiz-Reyes, another friend of Mora, also choked up and expressed regret for not being with the two cops when they were ambushed by career criminal Lashawn McNeil during a domestic disturbance call Friday night.

Members of the NYPD reflected on the passing of Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora.
Members of the NYPD reflect on the passing of Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora. William C. Lopez/NYPOST

A female officer who worked with the duo said the department needs continuous community support, not just during times of tragedy.

“I just hope and wish that it doesn’t take two lives to be taken for people to grieve with us, for people to support us and for people to be here for us,” the officer said.

Officer Charlie Ruiz-Reyes became emotional as he talked about his friend and fellow NYPD officer Wilbert Mora.
Officer Charlie Ruiz-Reyes became emotional as he talked about his friend and fellow NYPD officer Wilbert Mora. William C. Lopez/NYPOST
PBA President Patrick Lynch speaks to the crowd at the vigil on Jan. 26, 2022.
PBA president Patrick Lynch speaks to the crowd at the vigil on Jan. 26, 2022. William C. Lopez/NYPOST
An officer lights a memorial candle at the vigil.
An officer lights a memorial candle at the vigil. William C. Lopez/NYPOST

“The support that we have now should be something that we receive every single day. It shouldn’t take my brothers to be laying in a casket for everyone to come out and show they appreciate the NYPD,” she said.

Meanwhile, around the time the vigil began at 6:30 p.m., four NYPD patrol cars, an auxiliary van and a police vehicle from Darien, Ct., were discovered with slashed tires near the 32nd Precinct, sources said.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Joe Marino