The mother of an NYPD cop who fatally gunned down a screwdriver-wielding suspect told The Post on Sunday that she grieves for the family of the man her son killed.

“When I heard about [the shooting], I was praying all night for the family that lost their son,” said Edelyne Tsaabast, the mother of Officer Djafar Tsaabast. “I hope things work out for the mother. She must be devastated.”

Djafar Tsaabast was one of two cops who opened fire on Jahlire Nicholson early Saturday after the 28-year-old used a screwdriver to take his mother hostage and then brandished the weapon at the officers, refusing to drop it.

Edelyne said her son called her immediately after the shooting.

“He said he was upset about what happened to him. He didn’t explain anything else because he knows I have high blood pressure,’’ she said.

The mother insisted that her son “always uses restraint.”

“He’s a very kind young man,” she said. “He has a good heart.”

But Edelyne admitted that she wishes her cop son had chosen another profession.

“I wanted him to be a lawyer, not a police officer,” she said. “As a mother, you know, I’m praying every night. There’s a lot of danger for police now, a lot of killing every time you turn around.”

A cop at the scene initially fired a taser at Nicholson but missed. A law enforcement source said the shot may have been off because of the distance between the officer and the suspect.

Tsaabast and fellow Officer Daniel Decario then fired their guns one time each at Nicholson, striking him in the shoulder and leg.

He was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital.

NYPD officials have said the shooting appears to have followed protocol. It remains under investigation, a law enforcement source said.

Tsaabast’s wife, reached at the couple’s Middle Island, LI, home Sunday, said her husband was “doing fine” but declined to give her name or comment further.

Meanwhile, a relative of the suspect’s 55-year-old mother said the woman is having a hard time coping.

“We are trying to piece things together now. I have no idea; she has no idea,” said her older brother, Anthony Nicholson. “I just spoke to her. She’s not sure what happened.”

When Tsaabast and Decaria arrived at the scene, Nicholson’s mom was in her son’s clutches in the stairwell screaming, “He’s going to kill me! He’s going to kill me!,” authorities said.

Nicholas had 10 prior arrests, including for assault and weapons possession, and was the subject of at least four past domestic-incident reports, cops said.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona, Kevin Sheehan and Emily Saul