Slain NYPD Officer Exemplifies Nationwide Spike in Line-of-Duty Deaths

The killings of police officers in jurisdictions as different as New York City and Utah over the past weekend have underlined a spike in line of duty death for cops facing armed suspects during what were expected to be “routine” calls.

New York City police officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora were shot while responding to a domestic disturbance call at a Harlem apartment on Friday, the third and fourth shootings of New York City police officers in the line of duty in the last week and a stark example of the potential for deadly violence behind even mundane calls underscored by the persistent flow of illegal firearms through the so-called Iron Pipeline up the Eastern Seaboard, reports the New York Times.

Rivera was killed and his partner, Mora, left gravely injured and in critical condition after gunman Lashawn McNeil opened fire on them using a gun reported stolen in Baltimore years earlier before being shot twice himself by an accompanying rookie police officer.

McNeil is a middle-aged ex-convict who had put the crimes of his youth behind him and his mother, who had called the police after he had verbally threatened her during an argument, made no mention of violence or weapons in the apartment.

Experts say that domestic disturbance calls like this one represent one of the most dangerous situations police can respond to and that, of the 503 officers nationwide who were feloniously killed between 2011 and 2020, 43 (8.3 percent) officers were feloniously killed while responding to domestic disturbance or domestic violence calls.

The year 2021 saw the highest number of law enforcement officers who were intentionally killed in the line of duty (73) since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In Harris County, Arizona, Corporal Charles Galloway, a 12 year veteran and field training officer, was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop in southwest Houston when the suspect got out of his vehicle and started firing his weapon towards Galloway, who had no time to respond or defend himself.

The suspect then drove away and has yet to be identified or apprehended. Crime Stoppers of Houston is offering up to $5,000 reward in this case, which Harris County Precinct 5 Constable Ted Heap reported as a regular occurrence.

Meanwhile the Salt Lake Tribune reports that Utah police officers were shot at more in 2021 than any other year in recent history, an analysis by the media group showing that officers were shot at in about half of all police shootings last year, with eight officers being wounded in six of those and no deaths.

Local law enforcement leaders said police shootings in the state have trended in line with the state’s increase in gun thefts and gun-related crimes last year, which followed record-high gun sales in 2020. And they said officers have noticed an increase in encounters with noncompliant or hostile people, some whom are more willing to fire at officers.