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The man who allegedly ambushed and shot two NYPD officers — one fatally — in Harlem Friday is a convicted felon who was on probation at the time, authorities said.
Lashawn McNeil, 47, was shot in the head and arm by a third officer as he tried to flee, and was hospitalized in critical condition Friday night, NYPD Chief of detectives James Essig said at a press conference.
The alleged gunman was on probation for a 2003 felony narcotics conviction in New York City, Essig said.
He also had several prior arrests outside of the Big Apple.
In 1998, he was arrested in South Carolina for unlawful possession of a weapon. The matter was later dismissed, records show.
McNeil was then busted for assaulting a police officer in Pennsylvania in 2002, Essig said.
In 2003, he was arrested twice in Pennsylvania, once on a felony drug charge and also on a misdemeanor narcotics charge.
His last known address was in Allentown, Pennsylvania, about 90 miles west of the Big Apple.
Authorities said McNeil was sitting in the back bedroom of an apartment at at 119 West 135th Street when he swung the door open and allegedly fired on two cops, Rookie Officer Jason Rivera, 22, was killed and and 27-year-old Officer Wilbert Mora, who joined the force in 2018, was gravely wounded.
The officers, and a third cop, had been responding to a domestic disturbance call from a woman who said she needed help with her son at around 6:15 p.m.. The woman “mentioned no injuries and no weapons,” said Essig.
When they got to the apartment, the three cops were met by that woman and another son. They were informed that the son she was having issues with was in the back bedroom, down a “very tight” hallway about 30 feet long, Essig said.
One of the cops stayed with the family while the other two, Rivera and his partner, approached the bedroom — which is when “the door swings open and numerous shots were fired striking both officers,” Essig said.
“As the perpetrator attempted to exit, he is confronted by our third officer, who fires two rounds striking him in the right arm and the head,” Essig said.
Police recovered an illegal Glock 45 at the scene, equipped with a “high capacity magazine” that holds an additional 40 rounds, Essig said. The weapon was stolen from Baltimore in 2017. Police are working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to further trace the gun.
Essig said that the investigation remains active and ongoing, and urged any members of the public with information to contact the police.
“We are working through why this brutal, senseless ambush of two of our police officers occurred,” he said.
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