Adams at funeral for slain NYPD officer: ‘We will protect our city’

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) vowed that “we will protect our city” as officials and police commemorated a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer who succumbed to his injuries after responding to a family dispute last month.

Wilbert Mora, 27, last month died from injuries sustained while responding to the 911 call, during which he and another NYPD officer were shot.

Mora was described as being in critical condition immediately following the shooting while the other officer, 22-year-old Jason Rivera, died following the incident. Mora was shot in the head and had a bullet lodged in his brain, NBC New York reported. He was taken off life support several days after the shooting.

“We reflect on his bravery. We remember his sacrifice. It is New Yorkers against the killers and we will not lose. We will protect our city,” Adams, a former police officer, said at Mora’s funeral, according to the NBC affiliate.

“Those of us who have put on the uniform know what happened to Officer Mora could happen to us any day,” the mayor added, per the news outlet. “Their pain is our pain.”

Following the shooting, Adams called on lawmakers to pass gun control measures.

“We don’t make guns here. How are we removing thousands of guns off the street, and they still find their way into New York City? In the hands of people who are killers, constantly carbon highways of death, destroying our communities,” Adams said in January. “We need Washington to join us and act now to stop the flow of guns in New York City and cities like New York.”

Last week Adams released a plan to end gun violence in the city, which includes the deployment of more officers in certain neighborhoods. He is expected to meet with President Biden on Thursday to talk about gun crime.