- Thursday, February 27, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
AN Indian-origin “super rookie” New York Police Department (NYPD) officer in his late 20s is being hailed as a hero after he shot a convicted felon who murdered his colleague and left another seriously injured while probing a call of domestic violence in Big Apple’s Harlem neighbourhood.
The officer, Sumit Sulan, however, is still struggling to cope with the deadly ambush on them that took place on Friday (21) and according to his mother Dalvir Sulan who spoke to the New York Post newspaper, “his brain is stuck on the situation”.
According to the police, Lawshawn McNeil, a 47-year-old career criminal, on Friday ambushed the three cops – Sulan, Jason Rivera, 22, and Wilbert Mora, 27, after they visited the Harlem address to probe a domestic-violence call.
Excellent police work by 32nd Pct Patrol & Field Investigative Officers.
Our #NYPD Patrol Officers responded to a domestic dispute call and after further investigation this illegal⬇️gun was recovered. #OneLessGun off the streets of #Harlem, hopefully preventing future violence. pic.twitter.com/ePLYYnf12U— NYPD 32nd Precinct (@NYPD32Pct) January 3, 2022
McNeil opened fire in which Rivera was killed while Mora was critically injured.
Sulan then fired back at McNeil and injured him. He is currently in hospital in critical condition.
Dalvir, 60, told the Post that her son was “shaken” and could not get what happened out of his head. She, however, said that he was proud of her son.
“I’m proud. Everyone says he did good,” she said from her home in Queens.
“I feel bad for the other (officer). He died. We really feel bad. We’re sorry. We’re hurt. The other guy is critical and we’re hurt,” she added.
A law-enforcement source described Sulan as a “super rookie,” noting that he has been on the job since April and at Harlem’s 32nd Precinct for only two months.
“He did a great job,” Dalvir said of her son, who emigrated from India about 15 years ago.
The New York Daily News said, citing a source, that the call to the Harlem apartment appeared to be a routine run until things turned worse after the officers’ arrival.
The expectation, he explained, was the situation could be resolved without an arrest after a chat with McNeil. The accused’s mother never told the arriving officers that her son was armed, the report said, citing the source.
Flags across the five boroughs of New York City flew at half-staff on Saturday to honour Rivera, a son of Dominican immigrants who once wrote that he joined the NYPD to make a difference in “this chaotic city.” Rivera had joined the job only 14 months ago and is survived by his wife.
