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The high-capacity ammunition magazine a crazed gunman used to kill a rookie NYPD cop and injure another in Harlem turns the weapon into something that might be found in war-torn Afghanistan, experts said on Saturday.
The so-called “drum” magazine allows the Glock to hold an additional 40 rounds to the firearm’s usual 10.
New York prohibits the use of magazines holding more than 10 rounds unless you are active law enforcement or military, according to state law and an online site that hawks the magazines for $89.95.
“Now you can load up on Tuesday and shoot to Wednesday with this 50 round 9mm magazine for your Glock. It will fit and function in all Glock 9mm handguns (except the Glock 43),” the site, Glockstore, touts, noting state restrictions apply.
Ex-NYPD cop and private eye Bo Dietl likened the ammo magazine to “something our troops saw in Afghanistan.”
“Who carries this? A person who wants to kill a lot of people,” Dietl told The Post. “We are lucky we don’t have three cops dead.”
Dietl said a high-ranking police officer told him that those who viewed body cam footage of the ambush Friday that killed Jason Rivera, 22, and injured his partner Wilbert Mora, 27, called the aftermath “devastating.” Accused gunman Lashawn McNeil was shot by a third cop when he tried to escape, police said.
Said Dietl: “This [type of firearm] is being carried by the criminal element looking to take out as many people as they can. Now the cops become the victims … There’s no reason for any individual to have this kind of power except to kill people.”
Police recovered the illegal Glock 45 at the crime scene, equipped with the “high-capacity magazine” NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said. The weapon McNeil allegedly used was stolen from Baltimore in 2017, he said.
Drum magazines are illegal in nine states, including Maryland, where the capacity for civilians is limited to 10 rounds, according to the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“A high-capacity magazine gives the shooter the ability to spray rounds,” said firearms expert Robert LaMonica, 69, a retired NYPD sergeant with the 75th Precinct in East New York. “These [bad] guys have these type of guns because they don’t want to aim, they just spray-and-pray,” said the former detective of NYPD ballistics (from 2003-2005).
Said PBA President Patrick Lynch: “Perps have always had access to illegal guns. That part isn’t new. The difference now is that criminals are carrying more firepower and using it more frequently, because the message on the street is that there are no consequences if they get caught. Last night [Friday night] that message cost a hero police officer his life. It has to change, immediately.”
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