NYPD Officer Slain In Harlem Joined The Force To Help 'Chaotic City'
Newsy
The medical examiner ruled Jason Rivera’s death a homicide on Saturday after an autopsy found he died from gunshot wounds to the head and torso.
The 22-year-old New York City police officer who was shot to death while responding to a call in a Harlem apartment came from an immigrant family and grew up in a community with strained police relations, but joined the force to make a difference in the "chaotic city," he once wrote.
"I know that something as small as helping a tourist with directions, or helping a couple resolve an issue, will put a smile on someone's face," Jason Rivera wrote to his commanding officer in 2020 when he was a probationary police officer.
Rivera and Officer Wilbert Mora were shot Friday night while answering a call about an argument between a woman and her adult son. Mora, 27, was critically wounded and "fighting for his life" Saturday, said Mayor Eric Adams. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, visited Mora and his family in the hospital and gave the wounded officer a blessing, according to a spokesman the archdiocese.