Mayor Eric Adams demanded assistance Sunday from Washington D.C. to block the “constant flow” of firearms into the Big Apple, days after an NYPD cop was killed and another officer was left fighting for his life after they were shot — declaring “the federal government must step in.”
“The police department is doing their job taking thousands of guns off the streets, yet each time you take a gun off, there’s a constant flow of new guns coming here,” he said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“And if we don’t coordinate to go after those gun dealers that are supplying large cities in America such as New York, we are losing the battle, and the federal government must step in and play a role in doing so.”
During a subsequent TV appearance, Adams speculated that even though cops seize many firearms, they are quickly replenished by even more of them being transported to New York City.
“We have to stop the flow of guns. We are removing thousands of guns off our streets, and it appears for every gun we’ve removed from the street, five are coming in. That is unacceptable,” he said on “CNN’s State of the Union.”
The mayor’s Sunday morning plea comes after during an emotional speech Friday evening shortly after the shooting he decried the flooding of weapons into the Big Apple from outside the five boroughs, as he issued a request for federal help to put a halt to it.
“There are no gun manufacturers in New York City. We don’t make guns here,” said the former NYPD captain. “How are we removing thousands of guns off the street and they still find a way into New York City? In the hands of people that are killers, constantly carving highways of death, destroying our communities.”
“We need Washington to join us and act now to stop the flow of guns in New York City and cities like New York.”
Lashawn McNeil — the 47-year-old man who allegedly shot the pair of NYPD cops Friday evening — used a Glock .45 with a high-capacity ammunition magazine that was stolen from Baltimore in 2017 in the Friday evening shooting, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig.
In the shooting, rookie cop Jason Rivera, 22, was killed, and his 27-year-old partner, Wilbert Mora, was gravely wounded, after they responded to a dispute in Harlem between a mother and son. Sources previously told The Post that Mora had a bullet lodged in his brain, and was expected to undergo a second surgery as he remained in very critical condition at Harlem Hospital Saturday.
Authorities said the officers, along with a third cop, went to an apartment at 119 West 135th Street at about 6:15 p.m. after receiving a 911 call from a mother about needing help with her son. The woman “mentioned no injuries and no weapons,” said Essig said Friday.
After speaking to the mom, two of the officers walked to the back of the apartment, down a narrow hallway toward a back bedroom. Then, McNeil opened the door and “suddenly, without warning, opened fire” on the pair of officers, NYPD commissioner Keechant Sewell said.
When McNeil attempted to flee, the third officer opened fire, striking him in the head and arm, police said.
Records from the NYPD’s emergency call center show how quickly the seemingly routine Friday evening domestic call in Manhattan quickly turned into a deadly situation.
President Joe Biden on Saturday offered prayers for the slain and injured cops.
Also Sunday, Adams touted the formation of plainclothes anti-gun unit as a local strategy is to reduce gunplay in the five boroughs. The team will replace the controversial anti-crime unit that ex-Police Commissioner Dermot Shea was disbanded last year.
“We’re going to roll out a smart way of policing, put in place again a modified version of a plainclothes anti-gun unit that’s going to go after those known shooters and people are are actually creating the devastation in our city,” he said on ABC, noting the team will formally announced “this week.”
The new units, dubbed “Neighborhood Safety Teams,” will replace the uniformed Public Safety Teams in areas where shootings surged last year, according to a memo Chief of Department Ken Corey sent out earlier this month.
Still, Adams went on to again stress the importance of nationwide efforts aimed at curbing the influx of guns into New York City.
“But if you continue to have the flow of guns to big cities,” he said, “you’re going to constantly fight this battle.”
Since Adams took office Jan. 1, five NYPD officers have been shot, including four last week. On Thursday, NYPD Detective Dominick Libretti was hit with gunfire during a drug bust on Staten Island.
That came two days before Officer Kaseem Pennant was shot in the leg while struggling with a teenage suspect in The Bronx.
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