NEW YORK — Escorted by police motorcycles and amid the wail of bagpipes, the hearse carrying the body of Detective Steven McDonald arrived Friday at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the funeral of the officer known for forgiving a teenage gunman who left him paralyzed.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner James O’Neill joined scores of police officers watched as the hearse pulled up in front of the Manhattan church. They stood in silence as pallbearers took McDonald’s casket inside.

McDonald, 59, who suffered a heart attack last week, died at a Long Island hospital on Tuesday. He had remained on the New York Police Department’s payroll as a detective until his death, but was best known as an international voice for peace and a source of support for other wounded police officers.

McDonald was on patrol on July 12, 1986, when he spotted bicycle thief Shavod “Buddha” Jones and two other teenagers in Central Park. When he moved to frisk one of them, the 15-year-old Jones shot McDonald three times, with one bullet piercing the officer’s spinal column.

About six months later, McDonald made a statement that defined the rest of his life: “I forgive him and hope he can find peace and purpose in his life.”

In the years following the shooting, McDonald met with Pope John Paul II and Nelson Mandela, and sat for an interview with Barbara Walters. He also took his message of forgiveness to Israel, Northern Ireland and Bosnia.

After Jones was sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempted murder, McDonald spoke of his hope that the pair would go on speaking tours together to offer a mutual message of peace. But shortly after Jones’ release from prison in 1995, he died in a motorcycle accident.

FILE – In this Feb. 29

David Bookstaver

1988 file photo

ED REINKE

paralyzed police officer Steven McDonald receives applause from members of the New York City Police Department as he arrives for funeral services at Seaford

Stuart Ramson

N.Y.

J. Scott Applewhite

for slain officer Edward Byrne. McDonald

MARK LENNIHAN

who was paralyzed by a bullet and became an international voice for peace after he publicly forgave the gunman

Susan Ragan

died Tuesday

Bebeto Matthews

Jan 10

David Bookstaver

2017 at the age of 59. (AP Photo/David Bookstaver

Gerald Herbert

File)

Mark Lennihan

FILE- In this Aug. 31

Mark Lennihan

2004 file photo

Richard Drew

disabled former New York City police officer Steven McDonald addresses delegates

Mario Suriani

as family members stand beside him at Madison Square Garden during the Republican National Convention in New York. McDonald

Richard Drew