New York Governor Blames ‘Illegal Gun’ in Fatal Shooting of NYPD Officer

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) blamed an “illegal gun” in the fatal shooting of NYPD officer Jason Rivera on Friday night.

Rivera, 22, was shot and killed and a second officer, Wilbert More, 27, was shot and wounded, Breitbart News reported.

The shooting suspect, Lashawn McNeil, 47, opened fire on Rivera and More as they approached him in a long hallway, CBS New York noted. McNeill was then shot twice by a third officer.

On Saturday, Hochul tweeted, “Last night, a shot from an illegal gun took the life of a NYPD officer.” 

“When I say we’re going to do everything we can to stop the scourge of illegal guns in our state, it’s not just talk. We are tripling funding for efforts to get these guns off the streets,” Hochul added.

New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) responded to the shooting death of Rivera by calling for more gun control, Breitbart News reported. 

New York has some of the most stringent gun controls in the country. Mike Bloomberg-affiliated Everytown for Gun Safety ranks New York No. 3 in the nation “for gun law strength.”

Those laws include everything the Democrats are pushing at the federal level under the guise of safety, including universal background checks, a “high capacity” magazine ban, an “assault weapons” ban, a permit requirement to buy a handgun, a red flag law, gun storage requirements, “ghost gun” regulations, and a prohibition against gun possession by felons, among other controls.

McNeil, the man who allegedly shot the NYPD officers Friday night, is a convicted felon.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.