Mourners crowd into St. Patrick's Cathedral for slain NYPD Officer Jason Rivera's wake

More than a thousand uniformed cops and fellow mourners, including New York Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, streamed through St. Patrick’s Cathedral in midtown Manhattan on Thursday to give a hero’s farewell to slain NYPD Officer Jason Rivera.

Rivera's police department colleagues were joined at the cathedral by MTA police and law-enforcement officers from across the country, and as far away as France and Germany, for a wake honoring the 22-year-old cop, one of two officers fatally shot last week while responding to a mother-son dispute in Harlem.

Officer Wilbert Mora, 27, died Tuesday of injuries suffered in the shooting.

"Any brother, any sister fall, we’ll always respect them, honor their family, honor their memory," said Lt. Jermaine Douglas of the Miami Police Department in an interview outside the cathedral. "As such, we will always travel to show our respects."

Adams avoided making any public comments afterward, but is expected to speak at a funeral Mass for Rivera on Friday.

Rivera’s body, accompanied by an NYPD procession, was taken from Riverdale Funeral Home in Inwood early Thursday to the iconic Roman Catholic church on Fifth Avenue. Hundreds of mourners attended a candlelight vigil outside the 32nd Precinct in Harlem Wednesday night to memorialize both officers.

The shooting happened about 6:30 p.m. Friday after Mora, Rivera and a third officer responded to a woman’s 911 call seeking help dealing with her son, according to the NYPD. After speaking with the woman and another son, Mora and Rivera made their way down a narrow hallway to a rear bedroom to talk with the man, later identified as Lashawn McNeil, 47, who opened fire, striking the two cops. The third officer then shot McNeil, who died on Monday.

Rivera died Friday at Harlem Hospital, hours after the shooting. After Mora's death, his heart, liver, pancreas and two kidneys were donated to three people in New York and two more outside the state.

At the wake Thursday, bagpipes skirled and hundreds of uniformed cops saluted as the coffin containing Rivera’s body was carried into St. Patrick’s. The cathedral bells tolled just before 1 p.m., heralding the start of the wake.

Sewell, the former Nassau police chief of detectives, arrived shortly after 2 p.m. and was greeted by two representatives of the Nassau Police Benevolent Association.

After more than 24 years with the Nassau police department, Sewell was Adams' choice in December to run the NYPD.

"We're proud of you," one of the union reps told Sewell as she entered the cathedral from East 51st Street.

Rivera's body, clad in his NYPD uniform, rested in the open coffin, which was placed at the head of the cathedral at the altar, a medal pinned to his uniform. The slain officer’s family and other loved ones sat in the front pews, greeting and embracing well-wishers, while mourners passed the officer’s remains. Some made the sign of the cross and others saluted, knelt or appeared lost in their thoughts. Two officers from the 32nd Precinct stood on each side of the coffin.

Officers from several states, including Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Illinois and Virginia, attended the service.

More than a dozen floral arrangements were placed at the front of the church, including one from the New York PBA with Rivera's shield number: 25738. Police and other mourners were encouraged to pet therapy dogs brought to the cathedral for the wake.

A poster board on an easel at the rear of the church displayed a collage of photos: Rivera as an infant, as a young boy, at a Yankee game, and with his wife of just three months, Dominique.

Spanish-language Mass cards — an image of an angel weeping over a thin blue line on the front — were distributed in the rear of the cathedral.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York, is scheduled to preside over Rivera’s funeral Mass, set to begin at 9 a.m. Friday at St. Patrick’s. Dolan will also preside over services for Mora next week. A wake is scheduled on Tuesday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the church, with a funeral Mass planned for 10 a.m. Wednesday. Rivera and Mora both lived in Manhattan and were Roman Catholic.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who attended the wake, said in an interview that "our hearts go out to the Rivera family and also the Mora family. We stand by our police officers and their families."

A spokesman for Blakeman said the county executive ordered flags at half staff in honor of the two officers.

Canteen trucks, from police unions and parked near the church, served snacks and coffee to cops. A Nassau PBA truck served food from a table on West 50th Street. "OUR FALLEN HEROES" read a message on the truck, along with a list of NYPD officers who died in the line of duty and another message: "A hero remembered never dies."

The NYPD is investigating the circumstances surrounding the stolen Glock that McNeil used to commit the shooting. A preliminary account said that it had been stolen in 2017 in Baltimore.

Rivera and Mora were the third and fourth officers from the NYPD to be shot that week. The others survived.